Earth and Space News: March 2015

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Arundinaria gigantea: Giant Cane as North American Native Bamboo

Summary: Arundinaria gigantea, known as giant cane or river cane, is a New World native species of bamboo with homelands in south central and eastern United States.

Giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea): James H. Miller & Ted Bodner, Southern Weed Science Society, Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images

Arundinaria gigantea is a New World bamboo species native to the south central United States eastward to the east coast, skipping Pennsylvania, to its northernmost range in New York. The perennial evergreen in the grass family, Poaceae, ranges across 23 states, with its westernmost extents in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Arundinaria gigantea thrives in a variety of habitats, with tolerance for extremes in soils and temperatures. Habitats encompass sea-level swamplands in Florida, vernal pools at altitudes of 1,240 feet (378 meters) in the Great Valley of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains and elevations of 2,000 feet (610 meters) in the Appalachian Mountains in New York.

The woody grass adapts to soil types from muck lands and rocky cliffs to rich alluvial deposits.

The New World bamboo is undaunted by temperature extremes of as low as minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius) and as high as 105 degrees F (40 degrees C).

Just as Eastern white pines (Pinus strobus) dominated the pristine landscapes in northeastern and north central colonial and pioneer America, Arundinaria gigantea dominated the variegated ecosystems in the southeast. Unfettered by agriculture or urban environments, Arundinaria gigantea flourished as canebrakes, extensive colonies of individuals living in close proximity.

Arundinaria gigantea is known commonly as giant cane or river cane.

River cane grows from a network of underground stems, known as rhizomes (Ancient Greek ῥίζα, rhíza, “root”).

The rounded hollow cane, or stem, arises above the ground to heights ranging from about 6.5 feet (1.98 meters) to 33 feet (10 meters).

Lance-shaped leaves measure a maximum length of 12 inches (30 centimeters) with a narrow width of 1.6 inches (4 centimeters).

Flowers, which appear irregularly and sometimes gregariously, form as racemes or simple panicles. Spikelets reach maximum lengths of almost 3 inches (7.62 centimeters) and widths of around 0.3 inches (8 millimeters).

Giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea) presents a stately silhouette in its native habitats in the south central and eastern United States.

The spring, or vernal (Latin: ver, "spring"), pool that hugs the northwestern perimeter of my yard is a supportive environment for Arundinaria gigantea. Hopefully, river cane will form canebrakes and encircle the pool as in olden days.

Amazingly, America can lay claim to its own native species of bamboo.

native status map of Arundinaria gigantea: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Team, via USDA NRCS PLANTS Database

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea): James H. Miller & Ted Bodner, Southern Weed Science Society, Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images @ http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1120624

native status map of Arundinaria gigantea: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Team, via USDA NRCS PLANTS Database @ https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=ARGI; (former URL @ http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=ARGI)

For further information:

"Arundinaria gigantea." US Forest Service > Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) Database > Plants > Graminoid.
Available @ http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/graminoid/arugig/all.html

Eastern White Pine: Graceful Tall Silhouette of Pinus strobus

Summary: Pinus strobus, known as Eastern white pine, is a New World tree native to eastern North America. Its graceful silhouette towers across space and time.

Pinus strobus, from the Park Loop Road looking towards the Porcupine Islands, Acadia National Park, Maine; Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012, 09:42: Harvey Barrison from Massapequa, NY, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Pinus strobus is a New World pine tree native to eastern North America.

In Canada, the tall tree towers in habitats from the prairie province of Manitoba eastward to the coast, with the exception of Labrador.

In the United States, the rapidly growing tree dominates landscapes from the Eastern Seaboard -- except for Florida -- westward to the midwestern states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and, skipping over Mississippi, to Arkansas.

Pinus strobus is known by the common names Eastern white pine, northern white pine, soft pine, white pine and Weymouth pine (in the United Kingdom).

The elegant pine presents a graceful silhouette that is favored in private and public gardens.

Eastern white pine is a coniferous (Latin: conifer, "cone-bearing"), resinous evergreen.

Its flexible, velvety needles, with a maximum length of about 5 inches (12.7 centimeters), cluster in bundles of five.

A variety of birds, from Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperii) to northern saw-whet owls (Aegolius acadicus) to northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) and purple finches (Haemorhous purpureus), enjoy sheltering in the tree's capacious branches.

Wildlife, including songbirds, such as chickadees (Poecile ssp) and brown thrashers (Toxostoma rufum), and small mammals, such as gray squirrels (Sciurus ssp) and red-backed voles (Myodes ssp), feature Eastern white pine seeds in their diets.

Eastern white pines enjoy status as governmental symbols.

Ontario in east central Canada recognizes the resinous tree as provincial tree.

Maine and Michigan in the northern United States accord state tree status to the long-lived conifer.

Three Eastern white pines grace my yard. The easternmost stands at the driveway entrance as a welcome sentinel. The other two grow within a few feet of each other at the northern extent of the retaining wall which braces the southeast terrace.

As long-lived evergreens, Pinus strobus may thrive for two to almost five centuries. With their vibrant health, I expect them to outlive me, despite the unwelcome sight of several hefty branches felled by 20 inches of snow weight from three merciless snowstorms.

closeup of Eastern white pine's bundled needles; high vitamin C content favors the needles' popular preparation in hot (not boiling) water as a tea remedy for colds: Robert H. Mohlenbrock/hosted by USDA NRCS Wetland Science Institute, Public Domain, via USDA NRCS PLANTS Database

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

closeup of Eastern white pine's bundled needles; high vitamin C content favors the needles' popular preparation in hot (not boiling) water as a tea remedy for colds; Biotics Consultants Inc., Robert H. Mohlenbrock, Northeast Wetland Flora: Field Office Guide to Plant Species (1997): Robert H. Mohlenbrock, Not copyrighted and may be freely used for any purpose, via USDA NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) PLANTS Database @ https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=PIST; (former URL @ http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=pist_002_ahp.tif)

For further information:

"Bald Eagle Nests in Eastern White Pine: Pinus strobus is favorite tree." Earth and Space News. Saturday, April 18, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/bald-eagle-nests-in-eastern-white-pine.html

Mohlenbrock, Robert H. Northeast Wetland Flora: Field Office Guide to Plant Species. Chester PA: Northeast National Technical Center, 1995.

"Pinus strobus." US Forest Service > Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) Database > Plants > Tree.
Available @ http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinstr/all.html

Monday, March 30, 2015

Narcissus pseudonarcissus: Graceful Spring Welcome by Wild Daffodils

Summary: Narcissus pseudonarcissus, an Old World native perennial, enjoys global appreciation as a reliable spring flower, with lovely cream to yellow blossoms.

forestal splendor of wild daffodils, Forêt d'Arc-en-Barrois, northeastern France; Sunday, March 11, 2007, 16:27: Clément Huvig, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Narcissus pseudonarcissus is an Old World perennial flowering plant native to Western Europe from England and Wales southward across the western continent to Portugal and Spain.

Narcissus pseudonarcissus has become naturalized in such far-flung homelands as Oceania's Australia and New Zealand and South America's Falkland Islands as well as central and coastal Canada and the United States.

The delicate yet hardy plant is known commonly as common daffodil, daffodil, downdilly, Lent lily or wild daffodil.

Narcissus pseudonarcissus' stem grows from a brown-skinned bulb. Setting off the stem are basal leaves that emerge from the stem's base as slightly flattened, long, and narrow foliage.

Narcissus pseudonarcissus tends to produce a single flower but may also produce an umbel, a cluster of about 20 short flower stalks radiating from a common point. Coloration ranges from cream to white to yellow. Its trumpet-shaped corona, framed basally with six tepals, modestly hangs downward and dances with breezes.

Narcissus pseudonarcissus blooms across spring, from late February to May.

Last year, wild daffodils appeared daintily and sparsely across the eastern portion of the meadow that defines the northern border of my yard. I carefully mowed around them, even long after their spent flowers had shriveled into nothingness.

This year three brutal snowstorms crushed my yard with 20 inches (50.8 centimeters) of recalcitrant snow.

Just before the snowfalls, grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) had pushed their leaves upward for their annual appearance in the garden strip along the northern stretch of my front porch. Unfortunately, the snowy onslaughts smothered their floral ambitions.

But wild daffodils surprised me by dotting the front porch garden with a dozen plants.

The next pleasant gift from the unexpected floral visitors was their opening late in the afternoon, after 4:30 p.m., on Sunday, March 22. As I stepped from the porch onto the sidewalk and prepared to turn right to cross the south lawn and burn hefty branches broken off the nearby Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) by the weight of the snow, flashes of creamy floral colors caught my attention.

Even one daffodil plant prettifies its landscape and extends a graceful welcome to all viewers.

Imagine the splendor of a dozen or more! Such is my felicitous gift from nature.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credit:

forestal splendor of wild daffodils, Forêt d'Arc-en-Barrois, northeastern France; Sunday, March 11, 2007, 16:27: Clément Huvig, CC BY 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foret_de_haute_marne_by_ch.JPG

For further information:

Van Beck, Sara L. Daffodils in American Gardens, 1733-1940. Columbia SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2015.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Green Treefrog Habitats: Harshly Nasal Southeastern Lime-Green Body

Summary: North American green treefrog habitats get gold-lidded, harsh nasal-calling, lime-green bodies with pink-green abdomens in wooded southeast wetlands.

Green treefrog rests on lip of green pitcherplant (Sarracenia oreophila) in The Nature Conservancy's Coosa Bog Preserve, Cherokee County, northeastern Alabama; approximately 2014; photographer Alan Cressler, Hydrologic Technician, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC): Public Domain, via U.S. Geological Survey

North American green treefrog habitats abound in swampy distribution ranges in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

Green treefrogs bear their common name for skin color and daytime and non-breeding season living quarters and cowbell or rain frogs for bell-like and precipitation-prompted calls. Their scientific name Hyla cinerea (ash-colored wood [dweller]) communicates green treefrog membership in the Hylidae family with chorus frogs, cricket frogs and temperate and tropical treefrogs. Scientific designations defer to descriptions in 1799 by Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider (Jan. 18, 1750-Jan. 12, 1822), German classical antiquity professor and naturalist from Collm, Saxony.

Green treefrog life cycles expect rain-fed permanent bayous, ditches, lakes, ponds and swamps and permanent, semi-permanent and temporary pools within reach of bushes, shrubs and trees.

Late March through early October fulfill green treefrog life cycle requirements of yearly breeding season months with nightly temperatures above 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.33 degrees Celsius).

Slim-waisted green treefrogs go on large sticky toe pads and long legs from bushes, shrubs and trees to breeding bayous, ditches, lakes, ponds, pools and swamps. Matched filtering helps them hear, despite mixed-species choruses, by calls having frequency ranges that vibrate two circular tympanic-membraned eardrums and the inner-ear's amphibian and basilar papillae. Closed-mouth, closed-nostril advertisement, similar courtship and rain, aggression and similar release calls involve lung expirations that impel air streams over vocal cords and inflate vocal sacs.

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis fungal disease, fertilizer runoff, globally warmed climate change, nonnative species, toxic pesticides, trematode fluke-induced deformities and ultraviolet radiation jeopardize North American green treefrog habitats.

Three hundred to 4,000-egg clusters and, four to 14 days later, gill-breathing, keel-tailed tadpoles keep to water whereas legged, lung-breathing, tailless adults know land and water.

Green treefrogs look like 0.17- to 0.22-inch (4.5- to 5.5-millimeter), herbivorous (plant tissue-eating) fish and little-legged, long-tailed, 2.36-plus-inch (60-plus-millimeter) carnivores (flesh-eaters) 25 to 45 days later. The male manages axillary amplexus (armpit embrace) by maintaining forelimbs behind his mate's front legs while mounted on her back to fertilize dark, sticky eggs externally. Unlike algae-, organic debris-, plant-eating tadpoles, adults need ants, beetles, caddisflies, craneflies, crickets, flies, grasshoppers, mites, mosquitoes, moths, pillbugs, sowbugs, spiders, stinkbugs, termites, wasps and worms.

North American green treefrog habitats offer season's coldest temperatures, northward to southward, from minus 5 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20.55 to minus 3.88 degrees Celsius).

Artificial and natural ditches, lakes, marshes, ponds, sloughs and swamps with bay laurel-dominant, cypress-dominated emergent, floating, submerged, waterside grassy, herbaceous, weedy, woody plants promote green treefrogs.

Lang Elliott, Carl Gerhardt and Carlos Davidson quantify 1.25- to 2.5-inch (3.18- to 6.35-centimeter) snout-vent (excrementary opening) lengths in The Frogs and Toads of North America. Adults retain gold-rimmed, night-active, vertical-pupiled eyes; lime-green, smooth-skinned bodies that reveal black-olive when cold and sometimes black-bordered, white-striped sides and yellow-spotted backs; and pink-green abdomens. Advertisement, courtship and rain calls sound like nasal, short quank or quonk vocalizations whereas anti-competitor aggression and anti-contact release calls sound like harsh, guttural quarr-quarr-quarr vocalizations.

Harsh nasal calls and side-striped lime-green bodies in Gulf Coast and southeastern wooded wetlands tell green treefrogs from other anurans in North American green treefrog habitats.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

green treefrog (Hyla cinerea) under synonym Hyla viridis; depiction by Italian-born scientific illustrator J. Sera, lithograph by Peter S. Duval & Son, in J. E. Holbrook's North American Herpetology, vol. III (1838), Plate XX, opposite page 95: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35765544:
Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/61021753@N02/6076445748/

For further information:

Elliott, Lang; Gerhardt, Carl; and Davidson, Carlos. 2009. The Frogs and Toads of North America: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Identification, Behavior and Calls. Boston MA; New York NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Frost, Darrel. "Dryophytes cinereus (Schneider, 1799." American Museum of Natural History > Our Research > Vertebrate Zoology > Herpetology > Amphibian Species of the World Database.
Available @ http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/index.php//Amphibia/Anura/Hylidae/Hylinae/Dryophytes/Dryophytes-cinereus

Holbrook, John Edwards, M.D. 1838. "Hyla viridis." North American Herpetology; Or, A Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Vol. III: 95-98. Philadelphia PA: J. Dobson.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4075426

"Hyla cinerea Green treefrog." Page 458. In: David Burnie and Don E. Wilson. (Eds.) Smithsonian Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide. Revised and Updated. New York NY: DK Publishing, 2011.

Schneider, Ioan Gottlob (Johann Gottlob). 1799. "XI. Calamita cinereus." Historiae Amphibiorum Naturalis et Literariae. Fasciculus Primus Continens Ranaa, Calamitas, Bufones, Salamandras et Hydros in Genera et Species Descriptoa Notisque Suis Distinctos. Vol. I: 174. Ienae [Jena, Germany]: Sumtibus Friederici Frommanni [Friedrich Frommann].
Available via Internet Archive @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3425660

"The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map." The National Gardening Association > Gardening Tools > Learning Library USDA Hardiness Zone > USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Available @ https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/2012/

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Trillium grandiflorum: Showy Whiteness of Spring Ephemeral Wildflower

Summary: Trillium grandiflorum is a New World wildflower native to east central Canada and the United States. Its large, showy flowers bloom from April to June.

Trillium grandiflorum, Saint-Jérôme, northwest Montreal; Sunday, May 22, 2011: by Charles de Mille-Isles, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Trillium grandiflorum is a New World wildflower native to deciduous (Latin: deciduus "that which falls off") woodlands of east central Canada and the United States.

In Canada the showy wildflower is found in Ontario eastward through Quebec and then skips over New Brunswick to form a disjunct, or separate, population in Nova Scotia.

In the United States Trillium grandiflorum claims native habitats along the Eastern Seaboard -- excluding Florida -- westward through Minnesota, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia.

Trillium grandiflorum is known commonly as great white trillium, large-flowered trillium, snowy trillium, white trillium, white wake-robin or wood lily.

Trillium grandiflorum favors triplets in floral foliage. The stem, topped with a whorl of three large green leaves, emerges from a rhizome, an underground rootstock. Rising above the leafy whorl, a stalk conspicuously displays the plant's flower, which features three large, pure white petals with three small green sepals.

Blooming from April to June, the elegant, showy flowers link late spring with early summer. As they age, petals blush with pink tones.

The wildflower's ephemeral beauty is recognized governmentally. Since 1937 Ontario has designated Trillium grandiflorum as the province's emblem. Since 1987 the floral beauty has represented Ohio as state wildflower.

Trillium grandiflorum is a delight to behold, appreciated throughout its native homelands for its exquisite beauty.

Trillium grandiflorum f. roseum opens with light pink petals; Trillium grandiflorum 'Roseum' at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Scotland; Thursday, May 5, 2011, 12:10:48: S. Rae, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Trillium grandiflorum, Saint-Jérôme, northwest Montreal; Sunday, May 22, 2011: Charles de Mille-Isles, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/demartigny/5746872117/

Druse, Ken. The Natural Shade Garden. New York NY: Clarkson Potter, 1992.

Erigenia bulbosa: Harbinger-of-Spring Wildflower Ushers in Spring

Summary: Erigenia bulbosa is known commonly as harbinger of spring or pepper and salt. Its flowers announce spring with blooms in late February and last into April.

Erigenia bulbosa in flower, C & O Canal National Historical Park, Maryland; Sunday, March 10, 2013, 17:56: Fritzflohrreynolds, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Erigenia bulbosa is a welcome sight in woodlands of eastern and central Canada and the United States.

Known commonly as harbinger-of-spring, the New World native opens its flowers late in February. The early spring bloomer exults in springtime's reduced competition for dappled light as the sun's rays, unhindered by bare deciduous (Latin: deciduus, "that which falls off") trees, warm the forest floor.

A member of the carrot family of Apiaceae, the petite wildflower grows from a sphere-shaped tuber. Its tuber puts forth one or more stems, which shade from green at the base to reddish brown or purple along the stem's length.

Leaves usually sprout as three leaflets with shiny undersides and dull green topsides.

Consistent with the carrot family, Erigenia bulbosa tops its stems with umbels, which are short flower stalks spreading out from a common point like the ribs of an umbrella.

Its flowers have pure white teardrop-shaped petals contrasting with reddish anthers that darken to chocolate and then to black. The speckled contrast between anthers and petals is responsible for the wildflower's other common name of pepper-and-salt.

In early April, flowers close, and the wildflower's aboveground parts wither. Underground, its tuber awaits next year's spring to reveal its presence as an early blooming wildflower.

harbinger-of-spring (Erigenia bulbosa); West Virginia; Tuesday, March 20, 2012; photo credit Ryan Hagerty, USFWS: Public Domain, via USFWS National Digital Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Erigenia bulbosa in flower, C & O Canal National Historical Park, Maryland; Sunday, March 10, 2013, 17:56: Fritzflohrreynolds, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erigenia_bulbosa_-_Harbinger_Of_Spring.jpg

harbinger-of-spring (Erigenia bulbosa); West Virginia; Tuesday, March 20, 2012; photo credit Ryan Hagerty, USFWS: Public Domain, via USFWS National Digital Library @ https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/natdiglib/id/17520

Friday, March 27, 2015

First Quarter Moon: Third Phase of Eight Phase Moon Cycle Famous for Lunar X

Summary: The third phase of the eight phase lunar cycle, the first quarter, is famous for visibility of the Lunar X optical effect.

first quarter moon, visible high in southern sky in early evening: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA Goddard Photo and Video), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

The first quarter moon appears as the third phase of the moon's eight phase monthly cycle. This phase marks the increasing illumination of the lunar disk as viewed by Earthlings. The first quarter presents a surface that is 50 percent illuminated.

The moon's eight phases are further classified into four primary and four intermediate phases. The first quarter stands as the second primary phase, with the new moon, which initiates each monthly lunar cycle, holding sway as the first primary phase. The first quarter is sandwiched between two intermediate phases. The waxing crescent is the first intermediate phase, and the waxing gibbous is the second intermediate phase.

The side of the moon that appears lit to Earthlings depends upon viewing above or below the equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the right side of the first quarter is aglow. In the Southern Hemisphere, the left side of the first quarter shines.

The first quarter moon graces the noon to midnight hours. Rising around noon, the first quarter appears high in the sky at sunset. Its setting occurs around midnight.

In its first quarter phase, the moon is one-fourth of the way through its orbit around the Earth. The phase commences when the moon, with the Earth as the angle vertex, forms a 90 degree angle with the sun. The first quarter phases into the waxing gibbous moon when the moon and sun angle reaches 135 degrees.

The first quarter phase invites viewers to become familiar with surface features. For example, binocular or telescopic views of lunar craters take in three craters in the moon's south central region.

Ptolemaeus: With coordinates of 9.2 degrees south 1.8 degrees west, Ptolemaeus is located east of Mare Nubium in the moon's south central region. The low-angled sun that characterizes the first quarter and third quarter phases ideally highlights the ancient impact crater's features as a somewhat circular polygon with an irregular outer rim. Its dimensions measure 153 kilometers in diameter and 2.4 kilometers in depth. The crater's name honors Alexandria-based Greco-Egyptian astronomer and mathematician Claudius Ptolemy (ca. 90-168 CE).

Arzachel: With coordinates of 18.2 degrees south 1.9 degrees west, Arzachel is located east of Mare Nubium and south of Ptolemaeus in the highlands in the moon's south central region. The lunar impact crater's clear structure measures a diameter of 96 kilometers and a depth of 3.6 kilometers. Named by Italian Jesuit astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli (April 17, 1598-June 25, 1671), Arzachel honors Moorish astronomer Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Yaḥyā al-Naqqāsh al-Zarqālī (1029-1087).

Purbach: South of Arzachel lies Purbach crater, with coordinates of 25.5 degrees south 1.9 degrees west. The crater's heavily worn outer walls trace a diameter of 118 kilometers; its depth measures 3 kilometers. Purbach crater joins with Blanchinus and La Caille craters to create the Lunar X, also known as the Purbach cross, through a chiaroscuro optical effect most apparent at the beginning of the first quarter moon and also after the ending of the third quarter moon. Also named by Giovanni Riccioli, Purbach honors Austrian astronomer Georg von Peuerbach (May 30, 1423-April 8, 1461).

The first quarter phase offers rewarding views. A great gift for Earthlings seeking to expand their vision beyond the close parameters of modern life is the moon's unmissable visibility to the naked eye. No special paraphernalia is necessary for lunar sightings.

As with each lunar phase, the first quarter moon rewards viewers with its phase-specific light show. In addition to regaling unaided eyes, the first quarter moon invites closer, rewarding inspection by way of simple optical equipment, such as binoculars or small telescopes.

Lunar X, imaged Monday, April 14, 2008, with a DMK 21F04 firewire camera + SV152 apochromat + Televue 4X PowerMate: Jeff Barton (chipdatajeffb), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

first quarter moon, visible high in southern sky in early evening: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA Goddard Photo and Video), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/15982765351/

Lunar X, imaged Monday, April 14, 2008, with a DMK 21F04 firewire camera + SV152 apochromat + Televue 4X PowerMate: Jeff Barton (chipdatajeffb), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/chipdatajeffb/2413096589/

For further information:

Byrd, Deborah. "What is Lunar X?" EarthSky > FAQs > Space. Jan. 19, 2013.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-lunar-x

Chapman, David M.F. "The Lunar X Files: a fleeting vision near the crater Werner." Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol. 101, No. 2 (April 2007): 51 - 56.
Available via JRASC @ https://www.rasc.ca/sites/default/files/jrasc2007-04-lr.pdf
Available via Willingboro Astronomical Society @ http://wasociety.us/Lunar-X.pdf

Dickinson, David. "Stalking the Lunar X." Universe Today. March 18, 2013.
Available @ http://www.universetoday.com/100810/stalking-the-lunar-x/

Fuller, David. “Moon Maps.” Eyes on the Sky > Moon.
Available @ http://www.eyesonthesky.com/Moon.aspx

Grego, Peter. The Moon and How to Observe It. Astronomers’ Observing Guides Series. London: Springer-Verlag, 2005.

Marriner, Derdriu. "First Quarter Moon Arises Wednesday, February 25: Second Appearance in 2015." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/02/first-quarter-moon-arises-on-wednesday.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Lunar X Marks Spot of Optical Effect of Sunlit Craters at First Quarter Moon." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 25, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/03/lunar-x-marks-spot-of-optical-effect-of.html

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Lunar X Marks Spot of Optical Effect of Sunlit Craters at First Quarter Moon

Summary: Lunar X marks the spot of the optical effect of sunlit craters that is visible via binoculars or telescopes during the first quarter moon.

Lunar X (image center), taken afocally Sunday, April 10, 2011, from United Kingdom with Panasonic Lumix camera and reflecting telescope: George Kristiansen from UK (George7378), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

The Lunar X is an optical effect created by the chiaroscuro interplay of sunlight with three of the moon's southern craters at the beginning of the first quarter moon, the third phase of the eight phase monthly lunar cycle.

The chiaroscuro (Italian: chiaro, "clear, bright" + oscuro, "dark") interplay between the sun's rays and the lunar surface spotlights the craters' elevated rims while their floors remain blackened. The moon's south central highlands serve as the dramatic topographic setting for the illusory Lunar X, which centers upon three adjacent craters.

Blanchinus: Sited at selenographic (Ancient Greek: σελήνη, selḗnē, "moon") coordinates 25.4 degrees south 2.5 degrees east, the degraded, irregularly rimmed crater plumbs a depth of 4.2 kilometers. Blanchinus crater's diameter measures 58 x 68 kilometers.

Its northwestern rim is adjacent to La Caille crater's southeastern rim. Purbach crater lies in proximity to the west.

Blanchinus crater is named for University of Ferrara's professor of astronomy and mathematics, Giovanni Bianchini (ca. 1410-ca. 1469), Latinized as Johannes Blanchinus.

La Caille: Sited at selenographic coordinates 23.8 degrees south 1.1 degrees east, the relatively smooth-floored lunar crater dips to a depth of 2.8 kilometers. La Caille crater traces a diameter of 68 kilometers.

The southeastern segment of La Caille's battered, notched and worn rim presents adjacency to Blanchinus crater's northwestern segment. La Caille's southwestern segment poises in proximity to Purbach crater's northeastern segment.

The crater is named for French astronomer Abbé Nicolas Louis de La Caille (Dec. 28, 1713-March 21, 1762).

Purbach: Sited at selenographic coordinates 25.5 degrees south 1.9 degrees west, the degraded, heavily worn large lunar crater descends to a depth of 3 kilometers. Purbach crater's diameter measures 118 kilometers.

Purbach's eastern border points as a caret eastward toward Blanchinus. La Caille hovers between the two, along their northern perimeters.

Purbach is named for Austrian astronomer and mathematician Georg von Peuerbach (May 30, 1423-April 8, 1461).

The Lunar X happens over an interval of about four hours. The optical effect peaks for about an hour. The effect then dissipates after the next hour as the sun's rays chase darkness and shadows from the craterous trio's surroundings and move the lunar terminator, the line between illumination and darkness, across the moon's surface.

On the dark side of the terminator, the sun's rays spotlight a peak on Purbach's southeastern wall and expand north-northeasterly toward the crater's common ground with La Caille and Blanchinus. The illumination of Purbach's northeastern wall completes the left side of the Lunar X.

Blanchinus' southwestern wall is lit to form the lower segment of the X's right side. Then the border shared by La Caille's southeastern wall with Blanchinus' northwestern rim catches the light and completes the Lunar X.

Lunar X is also known as the Purbach Cross in recognition of the major contribution made by Purbach crater to the calligraphic phenomenon.

Another popular name is Werner X, coined by David M.F. Chapman of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Halifax Centre. The name recognizes the critical role played by well-lit Werner crater in locating Lunar X.

Sited at selenographic coordinates 28 degrees south 3.3 degrees east, the prominent impact crater with terraced walls plunges to a depth of 4.2 kilometers. Werner crater has a diameter of 70 kilometers.

Lying near Blanchinus crater's southern border, Werner is located southeast of Purbach.

Werner is named for Nuremburg-based parish priest, astronomer and mathematician Johannes Werner (Feb. 14, 1468-May 1522).

The Lunar X makes its appearance in tandem with the fresh hours of the first quarter moon. The third lunar phase characteristically exhibits 50 percent illumination of the lunar disk, as viewed by Earthlings.

Observation of Lunar X does not require extravagant astronomical equipment. Lunar X may be viewed through such simple optical aids as binoculars or a small telescope.

The quirky phenomenon, however, is not always visible at a given location during each month's first quarter moon, throughout the year. The fluctuations in the duration, or length, of lunation, or lunar month, occasioned by the moon's elliptical orbit around the Earth and the Earth's ellipsis around the sun facilitate or prohibit the appearance of the Lunar X for Earthlings.

For the moon's first quarter phase, X marks the spot of the fleeting calligraphic phenomenon solved by the mathematical expression of lunar topography + solar illumination. The fun sighting of Lunar X emphasizes the easy accessibility of moon watching and the enjoyable play performed by nature within the purview of Earthlings.

The magic trick of the Lunar X affirms moon watching as an amusing form of entertainment.

Lunar X craters Blanchinus, La Caille and Purbach: NASA/LRO/LROC Team, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Lunar X craters Blanchinus, La Caille and Purbach: NASA/LRO/LROC Team, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Purbach_+_Regiomontanus_+_Werner_-_LROC_-_WAC.JPG

For further information:

Fazekas, Andrew. "Night Sky News: Watch Lunar Wonders This Week." National Geographic > Voices. Nov. 2, 2011.
Available @ http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2011/11/02/night-sky-news-watch-lunar-wonders-this-week/

Fuller, David. "Lunar X and Lunar V." Eyes on the Sky > Moon > Lunar X.
Available @ http://www.eyesonthesky.com/Moon/LunarX.aspx

"Lunar X." The-Moon Wiki.
Available @ http://the-moon.wikispaces.com/Lunar+X

"Lunar X." NASA > Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). March 11, 2009.
Available @ http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090311.html

Wood, Chuck. "Moon-Crossed." LPOD Lunar Photo of the Day > Archives. Jan. 8, 2010.
Available @ http://lpod.wikispaces.com/January+8,+2010

"X marks the moon on Thursday night." WRAL.com > Weather > Weathercenter Blog. March 29, 2012.
Available @ http://www.wral.com/weather/blogpost/10923597/

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Barking Treefrog Habitats: Barking Southeastern Warty Brown Green Body

Summary: North American barking treefrog habitats hear barks from brown to green, warty bodies with circle- or square-marked, side-striped bodies in the southeast.

barking treefrog (Hyla gratiosa); Hancock County, southernmost Mississippi: U.S. Geological Survey/photo by Jeromi Hefner, Public Domain, via USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI)

North American barking treefrog habitats accept distribution ranges in the southern coastal plains of Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia and inland in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Barking treefrogs bear their common name for barking doglike sounds of rain calls from bushes, shrubs and trees and for daytime and non-breeding season living quarters. Their scientific name Hyla gratiosa (pleasing wood [dweller]) communicates barking treefrog membership in the Hylidae family with chorus frogs, cricket frogs and temperate and tropical treefrogs. The scientific designation draws upon descriptions in 1856 by John Eatton Le Conte, Jr. (Feb. 22, 1784-Nov. 21, 1860), American naturalist from outside Shrewsbury, New Jersey.

Barking treefrog life cycles expect fishless, semi-permanent ditches, ponds and swamps in well-drained wooded wetlands with burrowable undergrounds and shelterable crevices and holes in woody plants.

Late March through mid-August fit into barking treefrog life cycle requirements of annual breeding season months with nighttime temperatures above 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.33 degrees Celsius).

Large, sticky, well-developed toe pads and rainfall get long-legged barking treefrogs from tree crevices and holes and from underground burrows to rain-fed ditches, ponds and swamps. Matched filtering has barking treefrogs and hybrids with green treefrogs hear species-specific frequencies that vibrate two circular tympanic-membraned eardrums and the inner-ear's amphibian and basilar papillae. Closed-mouth, closed-nostril advertisement and courtship of females, aggression and release against males and rain calls impel air from lungs, over vocal cords and into vocal sacs.

Fifteen hundred to 4,000-egg clusters and, about seven days later, gill-breathing, keel-tailed, legless tadpoles keep to water whereas legged, lung-breathing, tailless adults know land and water.

Barking treefrogs look like 0.71- to 1.10-inch (18- to 28-millimeter), herbivorous (plant tissue-eating) fish and little-legged, long-tailed little frog-like carnivores (flesh-eaters) 41 to 160 days later. Axillary amplexus (armpit embrace) maintains a mature male's forelimbs behind his mate's front legs while mounted atop her back for external fertilization of adhesive, dark eggs. Unlike algae-, organic debris-, plant-eating tadpoles, adults need ants, beetles, caddisflies, craneflies, crickets, flies, grasshoppers, mites, mosquitoes, moths, pillbugs, sowbugs, spiders, stinkbugs, termites, wasps and worms.

North American barking treefrog habitats offer season's coldest temperatures, northward to southward, from minus 5 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20.55 to minus 1.11 degrees Celsius).

Backwaters, bay laurel-dominant, cypress-dominated permanent, semi-permanent, sinkhole and temporary ditches, ponds and pools, bogs, cornfields, flooded sandpits, impoundments, live oak hammocks and swamps protect barking treefrogs.

Lang Elliott, Carl Gerhardt and Carlos Davidson quantify 2- to 2.75-inch (5.08- to 6.98-centimeter) snout-vent (excrementary opening) lengths in The Frogs and Toads of North America. Adults reveal changeably bright green to dull brown, warty-skinned bodies, usually with dark-circled or dark-squared backs and legs and ragged white-striped sides, and gold-lidded dark eyes. Advertisement and similar-sounding courtship calls while floating sound like resonant tonk vocalizations whereas typically similar rain calls from vegetation sound like a dog's irregular, slow barks.

Barking and changeably bright green to dull brown warty skin in southern coastal plains tell barking treefrogs from other anurans in North American barking treefrog habitats.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

barking treefrog (Hyla gratiosa); Hancock County, southernmost Mississippi: U.S. Geological Survey/photo by Jeromi Hefner, Public Domain, via USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) @ https://armi.usgs.gov/gallery/result.php?search=Hyla+gratiosa

calling adult male barking treefrog (Hyla gratiosa); Hancock County, southernmost Mississippi: U.S. Geological Survey/photo by Jeromi Hefner, Public Domain, via USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) @ https://armi.usgs.gov/gallery/result.php?search=Hyla+gratiosa

For further information:

Frost, Darrel. "Dryophytes gratiosus (LeConte, 1856)." American Museum of Natural History > Our Research > Vertebrate Zoology > Herpetology > Amphibian Species of the World Database.
Available @ http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/index.php//Amphibia/Anura/Hylidae/Hylinae/Dryophytes/Dryophytes-gratiosus

Le Conte, John. 1856. "Description of a New Species of Hyla From Georgia: Hyla gratiosa." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciencese of Philadelphia, vol. VIII (1856): 146. Philadelphia PA: Merrihew & Thompson, 1857.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1935201