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1.
After successful acquisition in August of reflected ruby laser pulses from the Apollo 11 laser ranging retro-reflector (LRRR) with the telescopes at the Lick and McDonald observatories, repeated measurements of the round-trip travel time of light have been made from the McDonald Observatory in September with an equivalent range precision of +/-2.5 meters. These acquisition period observations demonstrated the performance of the LRRR through lunar night and during sunlit conditions on the moon. Instrumentation activated at the McDonald Observatory in October has yielded a precision of +/-0.3 meter, and improvement to +/-0.15 meter is expected shortly. Continued monitoring of the changes in the earth-moon distance as measured by the round-trip travel time of light from suitably distributed earth stations is expected to contribute to our knowledge of the earth-moon system.  相似文献   

2.
Lunar laser ranging: a continuing legacy of the apollo program   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
On 21 July 1969, during the first manned lunar mission, Apollo 11, the first retroreflector array was placed on the moon, enabling highly accurate measurements of the Earthmoon separation by means of laser ranging. Lunar laser ranging (LLR) turns the Earthmoon system into a laboratory for a broad range of investigations, including astronomy, lunar science, gravitational physics, geodesy, and geodynamics. Contributions from LLR include the three-orders-of-magnitude improvement in accuracy in the lunar ephemeris, a several-orders-of-magnitude improvement in the measurement of the variations in the moon's rotation, and the verification of the principle of equivalence for massive bodies with unprecedented accuracy. Lunar laser ranging analysis has provided measurements of the Earth's precession, the moon's tidal acceleration, and lunar rotational dissipation. These scientific results, current technological developments, and prospects for the future are discussed here.  相似文献   

3.
Acquisition measurements of the round-trip travel time of light, from the McDonald Observatory to the Laser Ranging Retro-Reflector deployed on the moon by the Apollo 11 astronauts, were made on 20 August and on 3, 4, and 22 September 1969. The uncertainty in the round-trip travel time was +/- 15 nanoseconds, with the pulsed ruby laser and timing system used for the acquisition. The uncertainty in later measurements of a planned long-term sequence from this observatory is expected to be an order of magnitude smaller. The successful performance of the retro-reflector at several angles of solar illumination, as well as during and after a lunar night, confirms the prediction of thermal design analyses.  相似文献   

4.
Magnetization of selected nonmare areas, principally on the moon's far side, is inferred from positive disturbances in the magnitude of the magnetic field exterior to the magnetic signature of the lunar cavity observed in magnetometer data from the lunar orbiter Explorer 35. A less favored model for the field perturbations involves variations in the thickness of the low-conductivity crustal layer of the moon.  相似文献   

5.
Atomic sodium is a useful tracer of the tenuous lunar atmosphere because of its high efficiency in scattering sunlight at the D(1) (5896 angstroms) and D(2) (5890 angstroms) wavelengths. In 1988, Earth-based instruments revealed the presence of sodium at a density of less than 50 atoms per cubic centimeter at lunar altitudes below 100 kilometers. Telescopic observations that are made with a coronograph technique to block out the disk of the moon allow a true picture of the circumiunar atmosphere to be obtained and show the presence of sodium out to a distance of several lunar radii. The distribution of sodium has a solar zenith angle dependence, suggesting that most of the sodium that reaches great altitudes is liberated from the moon's surface by solar photons (by heating or sputtering) or by solar wind impact, in contrast to a source driven by uniform micrometeor bombardment.  相似文献   

6.
Preliminary numerical integrations of the lunar motion indicate that defects in the lunar ephemeris, due to omissions in the revised Brown lunar theory, produce errors of the order of several hundred meters in the coordinates at certain times. Such errors are large enough to affect adversely analyses of data from spacecraft, as well as determination of ephemeris time. Distinct planetary periodicities seem to appear in the residuals.  相似文献   

7.
The polonium-210 activity of the lunar surface is significantly larger than the activity of its progenitor radon-222. This result establishes unequivocally that radon emanation from the present-day moon varies considerably within the 21-year half-life of lead-210, the parent nuclide of polonium-210. There are large variations and well-localized enhancements in polonium-210 activity over much of the moon's surface.  相似文献   

8.
Lunar seismic data from artificial impacts recorded at three Apollo seismometers are interpreted to determine the structure of the moon's interior to a depth of about 100 kilomneters. In the Fra Mauro region of Oceanus Procellarum, the moon has a layered crust 65 kilometers thick. The seismic velocities in the upper 25 kilometers are consistent with those in lunar basalts. Between 25 and 65 kilometers, the nearly constant velocity (6.8 kilometers per second) corresponds to velocities in gabbroic and anorthositic rocks. The apparent velocity is high (about 9 kilometers per second) in the lunar mantle immediately below the crust.  相似文献   

9.
Ward WR 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》1975,189(4200):377-379
The orientation of the lunar spin axis is traced from the early history of the earth-moon system to the present day. Tides raised on the earth by the moon have caused an expansion of the lunar orbit. Tides raised on the moon by the earth have de-spun the moon to synchronous rotation and driven its spin axis to a Cassini state-that is, in a coprecessing configuration, coplanar with the lunar orbit normal and the normal to the Laplacian plane (which is at present coincident with the normal to the ecliptic). This combination of events has resulted in a complex history for the lunar spin axis. For much of the period during which its orbital semimajor axis expanded between 30 and 40 earth radii, the obliquity of the moon was of order 25 degrees to 50 degrees . In fact, for a brief period the obliquity periodically attained a value as high as 77 degrees ; that is, the spin axis of the moon was only 13 degrees from lying in its orbit plane.  相似文献   

10.
After only a few days in orbit, the first U.S. satellite of the moon has already produced data which have provided new information about the moon's gravitational field. Results indicate that the spacecraft will probably not impact on the moon before it completes its photographic mission, but that it will probably do so in about 8 months. Preliminary indications are that the moon has a relatively large pear-shaped component and that the gravitational properties will be of considerable scientific interest.  相似文献   

11.
Burke BF 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》1990,250(4986):1365-1370
The surface of the moon would be an excellent location for astronomical telescopes, and, if a lunar base were to be established, the construction and maintenance of instruments would become feasible. The prospects are reviewed, with particular attention given to large optical aperturesynthesis instruments analogous to the Very Large Array of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Typical parameters for a particular system are presented.  相似文献   

12.
Data from two Lunar Orbiter spacecraft have been used to test the significance of corrections to the lunar ephemeris. Range residuals of up to 1700 meters were reduced by an order of magnitude by application of the corrections, with most of the residuals reduced to less than 100 meters. Removal of gross errors in the ephemeris reveals residual patterns that may indicate errors in location of observing stations, as well as the expected effects of Lunar nonsphericity.  相似文献   

13.
A newly available data set of daily satellite-derived, lower-tropospheric global temperature anomalies provides an opportunity to assess the influence of lunar phase on planetary temperature. These results reveal a statistically significant 0.02 K modulation between new moon and full moon, with the warmest daily global temperatures over a synodic month coincident with the occurrence of the full moon. Spectral analysis of the daily temperature record confirms the presence of a periodicity that matches the lunar synodic (29.53-day) cycle. The precision of the satellite-based daily temperature record allows verification that the moon exerts a discernible influence on the short-term, global temperature record.  相似文献   

14.
When range and Doppler observations of space probes near or on Moon are reduced by use of a lunar ephemeris calculated from the Brown lunar theory, residuals as large as 440 meters in position and 1.5 millimeters per second in velocity are observed. When the calculations are repeated with use of LE 5, the integrated lunar ephemeris described (1), the residuals are greatly reduced.  相似文献   

15.
On 1 August between 10:15 and 12:50 Universal Time, with the Lick Observatory 120-inch (304-cm) telescope and a laser operating at 6943 angstroms, return signals from an optical retro-reflector array placed on the moon by the Apollo 11 astronauts were successfully detected. After the return signal was first detected it continued to appear with the expected time delay for the remainder of the night. The observed range is in excellent agreement with the predicted ephemeris. Transmitting between 7 and 8 joules per pulse, we found that each return signal averaged more than one photoelectron. This is in good agreement with calculations of the expected signal strength.  相似文献   

16.
Direct shear-wave arrivals from seismtic events originating on the far side of the moon are not observed at some of the stations of the Apollo seismic network. These data suggest that the material in the lunar interior at a depth of 1000 to 1100 kilometers is more dissipative for seismic shear waves than the lithosphere above, and possibly exists in a partially molten state akin to the earth's asthenosphere.  相似文献   

17.
Moonquakes     
Although the average rate of seismic energy release within the moon appears to be far below that of the earth, over 100 events believed to be moonquakes have been recorded by the two seismic stations installed on the lunar surface during Apollo missions 12 and 14. With few exceptions, the moonquakes occur at monthly intervals near times of perigee and apogee and show correlations with the longer-term (7-month) lunar gravity variations. The repeating moonquakes are believed to occur at not less than 10 different locations. However, a single focal zone accounts for 80 percent of the total seismic energy detected. This active zone appears to be 600 kilometers south-southwest of the Apollo 12 and 14 sites and deep within the moon. Each focal zone must be small (less than 10 kilometers in linear dimension) and fixed in location over a 14-month period. Cumulative strain at each location is inferred. Thus, the moonquakes appear to be releasing internal strain of unknown origin, the release being triggered by tidal stresses.  相似文献   

18.
Considerable information concerning lunar chronology has been obtained by the study of rocks and soil returned by the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions. It has been shown that at the time the moon, earth, and solar system were formed, approximately 4.6 approximately 10(9) years ago, a severe chemical fractionation took place, resulting in depletion of relatively volatile elements such as Rb and Pb from the sources of the lunar rocks studied. It is very likely that much of this material was lost to interplanetary space, although some of the loss may be associated with internal chemical differentiation of the moon. It has also been shown that igneous processes have enriched some regions of the moon in lithophile elements such as Rb, U, and Ba, very early in lunar history, within 100 million years of its formation. Subsequent igneous and metamorphic activity occurred over a long period of time; mare volcanism of the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 sites occurred at distinctly different times, 3.6 approximately 10(9) and 3.3 approximately 10(9) years ago, respectively. Consequently, lunar magmatism and remanent magnetism cannot be explained in terms of a unique event, such as a close approach to the earth at a time of lunar capture. It is likely that these phenomena will require explanation in terms of internal lunar processes, operative to a considerable depth in the moon, over a long period of time. These data, together with the low present internal temperatures of the moon, inferred from measurements of lunar electrical conductivity, impose severe constraints on acceptable thermal histories of the moon. Progress is being made toward understanding lunar surface properties by use of the effects of particle bombardment of the lunar surface (solar wind, solar flare particles, galactic cosmic rays). It has been shown that the rate of micrometeorite erosion is very low (angstroms per year) and that lunar rocks and soil have been within approximately a meter of the lunar surface for hundreds of millions of years. Future work will require sampling distinctly different regions of the moon in order to provide data concerning other important lunar events, such as the time of formation of the highland regions and of the mare basins, and of the extent to which lunar volcanism has persisted subsequent to the first third of lunar history. This work will require a sufficient number of Apollo landings, and any further cancellation of Apollo missions will jeopardize this unique opportunity to study the development of a planetary body from its beginning. Such a study is fundamental to our understanding of the earth and other planets.  相似文献   

19.
Abundance and distribution of iron on the moon   总被引:3,自引:0,他引:3  
The abundance and distribution of iron on the moon is derived from a near-global data set from Clementine. The determined iron content of the lunar highlands crust ( approximately 3 percent iron by weight) supports the hypothesis that much of the lunar crust was derived from a magma ocean. The iron content of lower crustal material exposed by the South Pole-Aitken impact basin on the lunar farside is higher ( approximately 7 to 8 percent by weight) and consistent with a basaltic composition. This composition supports earlier evidence that the lunar crust becomes more mafic with depth. The data also suggest that the bulk composition of the moon differs from that of the Earth's mantle. This difference excludes models for lunar origin that require the Earth and moon to have the same compositions, such as fission and coaccretion, and favors giant impact and capture.  相似文献   

20.
Measurements of the movement and deformation of tectonic plates are needed for many research areas in geodynamics, but observations with adequate accuracy and frequency of measurement are not feasible if classical geodetic methods are used. Long-baseline microwave interferometry and laser ranging to Earth satellites are among the new techniques that have been developed within the past decade to make the required measurements. Fixed and mobile stations using both these methods have been constructed in several countries and are now being used in an internationally coordinated research program. Baseline length accuracy better than 2 to 3 centimeters (1 standard deviation) is expected within the next 5 years.  相似文献   

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