Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Craters And Cracks Caused By Accelerated Nuclear Decay Heat Throughout The Solar Systemaccelerated Radioactive Decay Heat In The Solar System And Its Implications For Earth, Don Stenberg Jr.

Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

When we look throughout the solar system, we see evidence for accelerated radioactive decay such as fission tracks and isotope ratios. We also see the major effects of that decay heat, including the thermal expansion of planets and moons, massive lava flows, volcanic activity associated with craters, and more. These findings challenge that conventional impact theory of crater formation, and instead suggest that the creation scientists of the 1600s to 1800s were correct that the majority of craters were probably formed by immense explosions. We can now infer the energy source to be accelerated nuclear decay. If this decay heat …

Find The Distance To The Moon, Dean Smith

AI Assignment Library

This assignment leads students through a series of measurements that lead the student to calculate the distance to the Moon. Students who complete this assignment will see how knowledge that they would normally look up is gathered through experiment and observation.

What Is A Polygonal Impact Crater? A Proposed Framework Toward Quantifying Crater Shapes, Stuart J. Robbins, Jamie D. Riggs

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

Impact craters are used for a wide array of investigations of planetary surfaces. A crater form that is somewhat rare, forming only ∼10% of impact craters, is the polygonal impact crater (or PIC). These craters have been visually, manually identified as having at least two rim segments that are best represented as straight lines. Such straight lines or edges are most often used to infer details about the subsurface crust where faults control the structure of the crater cavity as it formed. The PIC literature is scant, but almost exclusively these craters are identified manually, and the potentially straight edges …

“Lasso The Moon? Is It Possible? What About Hack The Moon? Today’S International Framework For Activities On The Moon”, Diane M. Janosek, Armando Seay, Josa P. Natera

Military Cyber Affairs

The global interest in the moon and outer space continues to skyrocket. The current U.S. commercial investment in space is $350 billion annually, and it is expected to grow to $1 Trillion or more by 2040. The U.S. military investment in space defense and research likewise continues to grow, with the total investment amount remaining classified. With the frequent activity in space, as well as concerns about attacks to US space assets to and from space, the U.S, created the United States Space Command and its Space Force. With private space travel, nanosatellites, lunar exploration, and the proliferation of space …

The Extent, Nature, And Origin Of K And Rb Depletions And Isotopic Fractionations In Earth, The Moon, And Other Planetary Bodies, Nicolas Dauphas, Nicole X. Nie, Marc Blanchard, Zhe J. Zhang, Hao Zeng, Justin Y. Hu, Merlin Meheut, Channon Visscher, Robin Canup, Timo Hopp

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Moderately volatile elements (MVEs) are depleted and isotopically fractionated in the Moon relative to Earth. To understand how the composition of the Moon was established, we calculate the equilibrium and kinetic isotopic fractionation factors associated with evaporation and condensation processes. We also reassess the levels of depletions of K and Rb in planetary bodies. Highly incompatible element ratios are often assumed to be minimally affected by magmatic processes, but we show that this view is not fully warranted, and we develop approaches to mitigate this issue. The K/U weight ratios of Earth and the Moon are estimated to be 9704 …

The Meaning Of Dark, Light And Shadows: Inferences In Art, Materiality And Cultural Practices, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

Our visual awareness relies on light acting on the eye to perceive materiality and colour. Medieval thought wrestled to articulate and comprehend its nature. The notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, for example, included his descriptions to define light and make comparisons so as to differentiate between light and shadow. His focus was on the illumination of surfaces from the perspective of a painter, seeing shadows as ‘the diminution of light by the intervention of an opaque body’ and ‘the counterpart of luminous rays’. In his mind, a shadow ‘stood between light and darkness’, with darkness being ‘the absence of light’. …

Concentrated Lunar Resources: Imminent Implications For Governance And Justice, Martin Elvis, Alanna Krolikowski, Tony Milligan

History and Political Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Numerous missions planned for the next decade are likely to target a handful of small sites of interest on the Moon's surface, creating risks of crowding and interference at these locations. The Moon presents finite and scarce areas with rare topography or concentrations of resources of special value. Locations of interest to science, notably for astronomy, include the Peaks of Eternal Light, the coldest of the cold traps and smooth areas on the far side. Regions richest in physical resources could also be uniquely suited to settlement and commerce. Such sites of interest are both few and small. Typically, there …

Design And Construction Of A Computer Controlled Astronomical Spectropolarimeter, Jacob Marchio

Honors College

A theoretical description of a simple optical train, modulated signal based spectropolarimeter is discussed. The design includes, after the telescope optical tube (in this case, a 9.25” Schmidt Cassegrain), a rotating quarter waveplate (compensator), a fixed linear polarizer (analyzer), and transmission grating of 100l/mm, with a ZWO ASI290mm astronomical camera. The practical constraints on implementing such an instrument are discussed, and the construction of the spectropolarimeter is detailed, including the necessary optics, optomechanics, and electromechanics. The rotation and recording of the rotating compensator is facilitated by a motorized connection with proportional feedback control, and the uncertainty in measuring the angle …

Just A Bit Of Physics Can Tell So Much: A Unique Story Of The Start Of The Earth-Moon System, Fred J. Cadieu

Publications and Research

The start of the Earth-Moon system has been studied to show that this was an exceptionally violent event. One result was that Earth became the terrestrial planet with the highest average density. Another result was that Earth acquired enough mass and radioactive elements that it is expected to maintain a molten core region and magnetic field for the expected life of the Earth. Earth alone of the terrestrial planets was then able to develop plate tectonics as a long term energy release mechanism. The dipole magnetic field of the Sun reverses periodically, currently at the rate of about every 11 …

Galactic Preservation And Beyond: A Framework For Protecting Cultural, Natural, And Scientific Heritage In Space, Matthew Rosendahl

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

In July 2017, Moon Express, a private spaceflight company, announced plans to build an outpost on the South Pole of the Moon by 2020. The goal? To mine the Moon for minerals and water that could then be sold for profit. Indeed, the Moon has been found to possess resources with lucrative uses, both in space and here on Earth. The potential for huge rewards has incentivized several private and governmental actors to launch planned expeditions to the Moon, with China becoming the third nation to land a spacecraft there in 2013. Both China and India have since announced plans …

The Undeniable Attraction Of Lunar Swirls, Dany Waller

Posters-at-the-Capitol Presentations

Lunar swirls are complex patterns on the Moon with distinct brightness signatures and magnetic characteristics. Current research has suggested that the formation of lunar swirls relies on local magnetic fields to shield impinging solar wind, based on a shift in electromagnetic wavelength peaks related to solar radiation and space weathering. Our research combined recent models and methods to characterize these anomalies at the surface of the Moon, exploring the effects of field strength and position. We have produced a high resolution map of a famous swirl named Reiner Gamma using magnetic dipole modeling. These maps and models are considered when …

Location, Orbit And Energy Of A Meteoroid Impacting The Moon During The Lunar Eclipse Of January 21, 2019 & Testing The Weak Equivalence Principle With Cosmological Gamma Ray Bursts, Matipon Tangmatitham

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Location, orbit and energy of a meteoroid impacting the moon during the Lunar Eclipse of January 21, 2019

During the total lunar eclipse of January 21, 2019 at least two meteoroids impacted the moon producing visible flash lights on the near side. One of the impacts occurred on the darkest side of the visible lunar face and was witnessed by many astrophotographers. In this paper we present estimations of the location, impact parameters (velocity and incoming direction), orbit and energy of the meteoroid, as obtained from images and videos collected by amateur astronomers in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Morocco, USA, …

Gravity's Light In The Shadow Of The Moon, Andri Gretarsson, Preston Jones, Douglas Singleton

Publications

In this essay we look at the possibility of vacuum production of very low frequency electromagnetic radiation from a gravitational wave background (i.e. gravity's light). We also propose that this counterpart electromagnetic radiation should be detectable by a lunar orbiting satellite which is periodically occulted by the Moon (i.e., in the shadow of the Moon). For concreteness we consider the possibility of detection of both the gravitational wave and hypothesized electromagnetic radiation counterpart from the supernova core collapse of Betelgeuse

Evaluation Of Radiation And Design Criteria For A Lunar Habitat, Hayley E. Bower, Daniel Gomez, Antonio Bobet, Julio A. Ramirez, Shirley J. Dyke, H. Jay Melosh

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Extraterrestrial habitation has long been the object of science fiction, and experts in the fields of science and engineering have proposed many designs for a lunar base. The research conducted has focused on either structural stability, radiation protection, or meteorite-impact vulnerabilities, but rarely have these been considered together. The Resilient ExtraTerrestrial Habitats (RETH) project aims to design a lunar habitat from a hazards perspective, considering general degradation, meteorite impacts, seismic activity, radiation exposure, thermal extremes, and geomagnetic storms in addition to the physiological, psychological, and sociological aspects of astronauts living in such a habitat. Several members of the RETH team …

Full-Disk Wideband Photometry Of The Moon: R And I Filter Measurements, Richard W. Schmude Jr.

Georgia Journal of Science

A total of 42 full-disk brightness measurements of our Moon are reported. These measurements include the entire lunar disk including the Earthlit portion. All measurements were made on the Johnson R (red) and I (infrared) system and were fitted to cubic equations. The results are summarized in this report. The selected normalized magnitudes of the Moon are R(1,0) = -0.70 ± 0.10 and I(1,0) = -1.12 ± 0.06. The selected geometric albedo is 0.18 ± 0.01 for the Johnson R and I system.

Thermal Evolution Of Moon, Arshdeep Singh Gill

Master's Theses

In August, 2014 three experiments were conducted using infrared systems deployed at White Mountain Research center, CA. The data was acquired for the whole month of August. Teams of 3-4 students from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Santa Barbara were stationed at the research center for 2-3 days to operate the equipment. The three experiments were:(1) creating spatial-temporal time series of lunar surface temperatures;(2) identifying atmospheric meteor trails;(3) search for meteor impacts on the Moon surface. Out of the three this thesis focusses on experiment 1 and the results from this experiment could also help with the other …

Lunar Stories: The Violence Of Creation, Channon Visscher

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Tales of the moon’s creation abound in myth, legend, history and science. Given its conspicuous brightness and nearness, we should not be surprised that the moon has captured the imagination since the dawn of human consciousness."

Posting about how the moon was made ­­­­­­­­from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/lunar-stories-the-violence-of-creation/

Investigation Of Lunar Subsurface Cavities Using Thermal Inertia And Temperature Maximum To Minimum Ratios, Rachel Ann Slank

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Previous studies have revealed a small number of subsurface cavities, including lava tubes, as well as skylights, lava flow pits, and impact melt pits on the Moon. The interiors of subsurface cavities would have been protected from micrometeorite bombardment, solar radiation, space weathering, and extreme diurnal temperature swings over long periods of geologic time. As a result, subsurface cavities can provide access to pristine crustal samples and stratigraphy. These cavities may also harbor important volatiles, such as water ice, that would enable future exploration missions by relieving many operational constraints, including the supply of propellants and life support. In addition, …

Chemistry Of The Protolunar Disk And Volatile Depletion Of The Moon, Channon Visscher, Robin M. Canup, Julien Salmon, Bruce Fegley Jr.

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

In the giant impact theory for lunar origin, the Moon forms from a circumterrestrial disk of silicate debris produced by the collision of a planetary-sized impactor with the early Earth. Recent accretion models suggest that the final 10-60% of the lunar mass may be provided by the accretion of melt material spreading outward from the inner (Roche-interior) disk over the first ~102 years following the giant impact. The chemical and thermal evolution of the inner disk material is thus expected to strongly influence the bulk chemical composition of the Moon.

In a previous study we explored the chemistry of the …

Protolunar Disk Evolution And The Depletion Of Volatile Elements In The Moon, Robin M. Canup, Channon Visscher, Julien Salmon, Bruce Fegley Jr.

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

We explore how the evolution of the protolunar disk could lead to a depletion in K, Na, and Zn in the Moon relative to Earth even in the absence of escape.

Magnesium Isotopic Compositions Of The Moon And Achondrites: Implications For Their Origin And Evolution, Fatemeh Sedaghatpour

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main objectives of this thesis are to estimate Mg isotopic compositions of the Moon and achondrites, to understand the behavior of Mg isotopes during magmatic differentiation processes in different planetary bodies, and to evaluate the extent of Mg isotopic heterogeneity in the solar system. In order to achieve these goals, Mg isotopes have been measured for 47 well-characterized lunar samples and 22 differentiated meteorites by MC-ICPMS. The limited Mg isotopic variations among mare and highland regolith, mare breccias, and highland impact-melt rocks reflect negligible Mg isotope fractionation during lunar surface processes (e.g. solar wind, cosmic rays, micrometeorite bombardments, meteorite …

A Multispectral Assessment Of Complex Impact Craters On The Lunar Farside, Bhairavi Shankar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Hypervelocity collisions of asteroids onto planetary bodies have catastrophic effects on the target rocks through the process of shock metamorphism. The resulting features, impact craters, are circular depressions with a sharp rim surrounded by an ejecta blanket of variably shocked rocks. With increasing impact energy, the inner crater cavity can preserve complex morphologies including terraced walls, central uplifts, and melted rocks. The lack of erosion due to the absence of water or an atmosphere makes the Moon the perfect target to study impact crater processes, in particular the distribution of highly shocked materials within impact craters of different sizes. …

Chemistry Of Impact-Generated Silicate Melt-Vapor Debris Disks, Channon Visscher, Bruce Fegley Jr.

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

In the giant impact theory for lunar origin, the Moon forms from material ejected by the impact into an Earth-orbiting disk. Here we report the initial results from a silicate melt-vapor equilibrium chemistry model for such impact-generated planetary debris disks. In order to simulate the chemical behavior of a two-phase (melt+vapor) disk, we calculate the temperature-dependent pressure and chemical composition of vapor in equilibrium with molten silicate from 2000 to 4000 K. We consider the elements O, Na, K, Fe, Si, Mg, Ca, Al, Ti, and Zn for a range of bulk silicate compositions (Earth, Moon, Mars, eucrite parent body, …

Sodium Atoms In The Lunar Exotail: Observed Velocity And Spatial Distributions, Michael R. Line, E. J. Mierkiewicz, R. J. Oliversen, J. K. Wilson, L. M. Haffner, F. L. Roesler

Physical Sciences - Daytona Beach

The lunar sodium tail extends long distances due to radiation pressure on sodium atoms in the lunar exosphere. Our earlier observations measured the average radial velocity of sodium atoms moving down the lunar tail beyond Earth (i.e., near the anti-lunar point) to be ∼12.5. km/s. Here we use the Wisconsin H-alpha Mapper to obtain the first kinematically resolved maps of the intensity and velocity distribution of this emission over a 15° × 15 ° region on the sky near the anti-lunar point. We present both spatially and spectrally resolved observations obtained over four nights bracketing new Moon in October 2007. …

Characterization Of Thrust Faults On The Moon Using Fault Dynamics And 3d Visualizations, Jaclyn Danielle Clark

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Many small, lobate scarps, interpreted to be the surface traces of thrust faults, have been found all over Earth's moon by previous researchers. Fault dynamical calculations, assuming an initially completely molten Moon, have shown that these scarps can form due to compressional stresses that accumulate over time as the result of large-scale contraction of the Moon as it cooled. With high-resolution images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), previously undetected lobate scarps can be found globally and viewed at high resolution. By investigating these fault scarps, we can determine better constraints on the amount of crustal shortening and improve …

Phreatomagmatic Activity On The Moon: Possibility Of Pseudocraters At Mare Frigoris, Jose Humberto Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The discovery of water on the Moon raises the possibility that lava-water, or phreatomagmatic, interactions have occurred on the lunar surface in the past. Such interactions may have formed pseudocraters, crater-like landforms that result from steam explosions that occur when lava flows come in contact with surface or near-surface water or ice. We present a study of Mare Frigoris, a volcanic plain just north of the Mare Imbrium impact basin on the Moon. Clusters of irregular, circular features on the basaltic lava flows in this area resemble pseudocrater fields in Iceland, and they are located in a region with inferred …

Radial Velocity Observations Of The Extended Lunar Sodium Tail, E. J. Mierkiewicz, M. Line, F. L. Roesler, R. J. Oliversen

Physical Sciences - Daytona Beach

We report the first velocity resolved sodium 5889.950 Å line profile observations of the lunar sodium tail observed in the anti-lunar direction near new Moon. These observations were made on 29 March 2006, 27 April 2006 and 28 April 2006 from Pine Bluff (WI) observatory with a double etalon Fabry-Perot spectrometer at a resolving power of ∼80,000. The observations were made within 2–14 hours from new Moon, pointing near the anti-lunar point. The average observed radial velocity of the lunar sodium tail in the vicinity of the anti-lunar point for the three nights reported was 12.4 km s⁻¹ (from …

Recipe For A Moon, Edwin J. Geels

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.