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Note
added in press: The Walker County Observatory recorded its
first lunar impact on Sept. 19, 2007.
Sept.
28, 2007: NASA scientists are proving that you can
go home again – if you bring a telescope with you.
"Home" is north Georgia's Walker County, where astronomers
Bill Cooke and Rob Suggs have just set up a research-grade
observatory for their old school system.
 Right:
Rob Suggs poses by the new lunar impact telescope in Walker
County, Georgia.
Years
ago, they won't say how many, Cooke and Suggs attended the
same high school in Walker County and after school they volunteered
at the Walker County Science and Technology Center. The center's
telescopes fueled their fire for astronomy. They learned to
operate the instruments, find their way around the night sky,
and they took their first pictures of the Moon.
Now,
photographing the Moon is something they do professionally
for NASA.
Cooke
and Suggs work at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Alabama. Cooke heads up the Meteoroid Environment Office and
Suggs leads the Space Environments team. Together with a half-dozen
assistants and colleagues, they specialize in "lunar
impact monitoring." In other words, they watch meteorites
hit the Moon and explode.
"We've
recorded about 30 strikes this year so far," says Cooke.
Keeping track of these numbers is important to NASA as the
agency lays plans to return to the Moon. "We need to
know the odds of habitats and spacecraft getting hit."
Which
brings us back to Georgia. Installing a telescope in Walker
County not only benefits the local Science Center but also
it solves a thorny problem for the lunar monitoring team.
Cooke explains:
"At
our main observatory in Huntsville, we see a fair amount of
man-made space junk passing between us and the Moon. If the
junk is tumbling and catches sunlight, it looks like an impact
flash."
Above:
A meteorite hits the Moon--recorded from the MSFC's lunar
observatory in Huntsville, Alabama, in May 2006. The Walker
County Observatory will soon be detecting similar flashes.
[More]
"But
suppose you have two observatories separated by some distance—say,
one telescope in Alabama and one in Georgia. Then we can tell
the difference between a tumbling satellite and a genuine
impact. A real impact flash would be seen by both telescopes
at the same location on the Moon. A tumbling satellite, on
the other hand, will glint differently at the two locations."
Using
the internet, NASA will monitor Walker County telescope data
remotely ten days each month when the Moon is properly situated
for viewing impacts. The Science and Technology Center will
use the telescope the rest of the time.
"It
opens up a whole new world of potential science fair projects
for them," says Cooke.
The
Meteoroid Office chose this rural county as a home for the
telescope because it was a perfect fit. For one thing, Cooke
knew that the Science and Technology Center had won a Space
Telescope Science Institute grant to help build a new planetarium.
"The old planetarium I used as a kid was bull-dozed,"
says Cooke. "We felt the telescope would be a natural
adjunct to the new planetarium."
"The
center also has beautifully flat horizons – no trees. It's
all clear for viewing. And Rob and I have known the Walker
County School District's Science and Technology Coordinator,
Wayne Robinson, for
years. He can fix the telescope if anything breaks down. It's
a win-win situation."
Robinson
agrees.
"Having
the NASA lunar observatory at our center will pay tremendous
dividends for years to come," he says. "Images from
the telescope will inspire our students to know more about
space science and astronomy. We'll also project the images
on to a 40 foot diameter dome, providing audiences with a
combination of simulated night sky and real time images. If
there ever was a win-win situation, this is it."
 Right:
Star cluster M13 photographed by the lunar impact telescope
in Walker County. More sample images: Ring
Nebula, Lagoon Nebula.
The
$15,000 telescope has a 14-inch diameter mirror and will observe
from within an 8-foot by 8-foot building with a roll-top roof.
End
of story? Not quite. Robinson won't let you go without sharing
a tale about Cooke's younger days.
"We used to put on Christmas programs in the old planetarium,"
recalls Robinson. "I remember one in particular. The
planetarium director turned on a black light to reveal wise
men and camels. But the black lights revealed something else
too. Bill and some other volunteers had secretly placed big
signs that said, Wise Men on Strike and Demand
Better Camels."
"Needless
to say, the event is legendary to this day."
Warning
to the next generation: Cooke is back, and he's bringing a
telescope with him.
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Author: Dauna Coulter | Editor:
Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
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