(*Just_A_Note) – Stone Fig

(*Just_A_Note) – Cold Moon / True Moon

It was the last full moon of the year – and the decade.

Our calendars and our clocks do not make any variance in the movement of the stars, or the planets, or their moons. Our clocks and calendars allow us to track the procession of the heavenly bodies, but they do not guide them. Never the less, when a celestial event happens on a meaning-filled date it is remarkable; that is in the sense that the juxtaposition may be remarked upon.

For me the 12th day of December is a meaning-filled date. When an event is forecast for that date for me it is remarkable.

So it was with the Full Cold Moon on an early morning of mid-December. I went outside and took my picture in the light of the last full moon of the decade just at the peak of its brightness.

Or so I thought.

Having herein proclaimed that the celestial bodies do not care about our watches or calendars, I must say I was 24 hours off.

I stood outside, bundled against the cold, watching the moon creep towards its zenith, and I thought its brightest. My watch told me that the time was approaching 12:15 AM on December 13^th. At that moment, I turned so that I was not in the Moon’s shadow and took my picture, with the full moon in the background masked by light clouds.

The peak of the full moon, I later discovered, had been a full day before on 12 December. I was standing outside on the morning of 13 December.

But this was not like the transit of Mercury which happens and then is over. If I missed the fullness of the moon on the 12th of December, I could still take my picture of me and the moon 24 hours later. And I could still declare that the event and the picture were meaningful to me.

A picture of me with the moon at the actual time of the event would be more preferable, but I was ok. It was a grand night. It was cold and partly clear. I could see the moon and a star or two shining through the thin clouds. I could hear the dogs in the neighborhood barking, perhaps at a fox, or a stray cat, or maybe at the moon.

And I was outside enjoying it all.

https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-december-6-14/

Just a Note – An Opportunity

Where there is hope – there is Opportunity.

In June of last year, we were told by NASA that the 14 year mission of Rover Opportunity might be coming to an end. The rover was caught in a planet-encircling dust storm. This did not allow light from the sun to reach the rover’s solar panels, and her battery were becoming drained.

This year NASA tried to get Opportunity up and running, but their best efforts did not work. NASA sent one more transmission to Opportunity on 12 February, 2019, but no response was received. The following day NASA announced that the mission was concluded.

At least the roving part is completed. Years will be spent by scientists and geologists and engineers pouring over the treasure trove of data sent back by Opportunity. All that information will improve the likelihood of another outstanding success in a future mission to Mars – or beyond.

If Opportunity had a middle name it would be Success. The rover was originally planned as a 90-day mission. Opportunity lasted for 14 years. Her sister rover, Spirit, lasted about half as long, but also well beyond her planned 90-day mission

Why mentioned them now, nearly 6 months after the conclusion of the mission? Because they are a model for success, and we should always talk about success. Plus I’ve been hoping that we would hear from her.

Maybe someday an astronaut will walk up and dust off her panels, and Opportunity will say, “Welcome to Mars”.

Image is derived from photos on the NASA Mars Mission website, https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/ . The background is of Opportunity’s last panorama picture.

More information on the rovers and future missions to Mars may be found there. MER stands for “Mars Exploration Rover”.

(*Just_a_Note) – Wallace Broecker

News sources around the world have reported the death of Wallace Broecker. As a climate scientist, he penned an article that was published in the journal Science in 1975. This article was among the early warning calls of the effect of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) to cause a rise in the global mean temperature. Dr. Broecker titled the article “Are we on the brink of a pronounced Global Warming”. Through his article, and many others that followed, the term “global warming” has come into common use and is readily understood by all to imply a continuing rise in the global temperature to the point that it has a detrimental effect on the oceans, wildlife, agriculture, and human society.

As Broecker stated in his 1975 article, “… the exponential rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide content will tend to become a significant factor and by early in the next century [the ‘next century’ started in 2000] will have driven the mean planetary temperature beyond the limits experienced during the last 1000 years.”

Further in the article Broecker predicted, “As the CO2 effect will dominate, the uncertainty … lies mainly in the estimates of future chemical fuel use and the magnitude of the warming per unit of excess atmospheric CO2.” When any of us is outside we can see and often smell the exhaust of the continuing use, and increased use, of fossil (chemical) fuels by the world’s expanding population.

So when in his article Broecker asks, “Are we in for a climate surprise?”, the answer is both yes and no. Yes, it is happening, CO2 continues to clog our atmosphere. But no, in 2019 it is not a surprise.

The 1975 article may be found at – https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu//files/2009/10/broeckerglobalwarming75.pdf

The picture is taken from the 1975 article.

(*Just_a_Note) – GIORDANO BRUNO

The most recent lunar eclipse on 20 January 2019 included the sighting of a meteor crashing into the disk of the full moon. The flash of the purported crash was captured by Jose Maria Madiedo, a Spanish astronomer who filmed the eclipse. After he reported it others verified a similar sighting.

On June 18, 1178 a similar sight was seen on a crescent moon. That event was recorded by Gervase of Canterbury, “the upper horn of the new moon seemed to split in two and a flame shot from it. From the midpoint of this division a flaming torch sprang up, spewing out, over a considerable distance, fire, hot coals, and sparks.” The description has been thought to have been the creation of the crater Giordano-Bruno. But that crater is estimated to be at least a million years old. The event seen by the monks is now thought to have been an earthly meteor that happened to be juxtaposed over the moon as it flashed through the sky.

In both these instances an “on-the-moon” survey would answer the question. In either case viewing the moon is a worthwhile past time in summer or winter.

As interesting as these events are, an important aspect of the history of science is caught in the web of the craters of the moon. Giordano-Bruno was an outspoken Italian philosopher in the second half of the 1500s. He was a proponent of an infinite universe (1584) which was at odds with the teaching of the powerful universities and church movements of the time. For his trouble to shake the minds of the youth into new paths of thought he was burned at the stake on February 17, 1600.

Art work based on a photograph of the statue of Giordano Bruno by Ettore Ferrari, in Campo de’ Fiori in Rome. Photograph by David Olivier., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=923033.

(*Just_A_Note) – Chang’e-4 cotton seed sprout

On Tuesday January 15, 2019 the China News Agency, Xinhua, reported that the Chnag’e-4 experiment of growing plants on the moon had ended. Seeds of cotton, rape seed, and potato cuttings as well as eggs of the fruit fly had been carried to the moon in the recent landing of Chang’e-4. They were part of an experiment to see if terrestrial plants could be coaxed to grow in an enclosed and protected environment on the surface of the moon. The experiment was enclosed in a heated canister. Sunlight to stimulate plant growth was directed into the canister through a tube. Cameras were included in the canister to record the plant growth. Within days of the landing on the far side of the moon, the world was excited to learn that one of the cotton seeds had sprouted and its small stalk was the first plant to be cultivated on the moon’s surface. However, it was the only plant in the experiment to germinate and grow. The plant did not fully develop. Now that the lunar night, during which the dark side will not receive sunlight, has begun in the current phase of the moon, the experiment has been terminated.

The full article may be found at http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-01/15/c_137745505.htm

(Just_A_Note) postings are short articles regarding current, noteworthy events in science and being outdoors.