Starship Asterisk*

DL MARTIN wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 11:38 am
Wondering if China should have naming rights.

https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/how-are-places-on-the-moon-named-48457/ wrote:
<<The Moon is remarkable for the variety and unusual nature of the names of its surface features. The dark, smooth maria are named for weather or states of mind (Sea of Rains, Sea of Tranquility) while many of the abundant craters of the Moon are named for famous scientists, philosophers, mathematicians and explorers. Before the advent of the space age, only the near side of the Moon was visible, although most scientists believed that the far side probably looked exactly like the one facing Earth. (How wrong they were!) Naturally, once we had the ability to see uncharted lunar territory, a new era of name assignment commenced. But even now, many lunar craters and features await something more than mere coordinates.

The drawings by Galileo of the Moon in 1610 show craters and mountain ranges but he did not assign names to them. As telescopes improved, revealing finer surface details, several maps appeared with names bestowed by their astronomer authors to flatter patrons or express their nationalism. Most of those early names have been forgotten to history. In 1651, an influential map by Jesuit astronomers Grimaldi and Riccioli became the foundation for the official naming reference guide that we use today.

With the flight of the Luna 3 probe in 1959, the Soviet Union was the first nation to image the far side of the Moon. To the surprise of most, large regions of maria (so prominent on the near side) were mostly missing from the far side. Although the first images were of very low quality, the Soviets couldn’t resist the urge to name newly discovered features for a variety of Russian heroes and place names, such as Tsiolkovsky and the Sea of Moscow. Some new “features” were misidentified because of the low resolution – the name “Soviet Mountains” (no longer used) was given to a bright linear streak across the far side globe (a feature that turned out to be a long ray from the fresh crater Giordano Bruno and not a mountain range).

Over subsequent years, as both American and Soviet spacecraft filled in the far side coverage with increasingly higher quality images, most major far side craters received names of various scientists and engineers. From around the world, a mixed bag of names were submitted to the International Astronomical Union (IAU – the body of scientists who authorize the names of planetary surface features) for consideration and approval. Although some were historically significant, many were people with whom few were familiar.>>

kurth wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 2:28 pm How big is that small impact crater just off the lander ramp I wonder. I wonder if the caked lunar dust is thick enough so it would soften the impact of the asteroid? It might still be intact.

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:07 pm This must be just a bi-color, white and red image? (Not a complaint, just an observation/question)

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:20 pm

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:07 pm This must be just a bi-color, white and red image? (Not a complaint, just an observation/question)

The image was made with the Terrain Camera (TCAM) on the lander. That camera uses a CMOS sensor with a Bayer filter array... that is, pretty much a standard color sensor like you'd find in any camera. So the image is "true color". Of course, that's not to say it has been through whatever full processing workflow is utilized to calibrate color. But it is an RGB image, not a monochrome image case into a range of reds.

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:42 pm On the reporting of this historic mission I've been appalled by how often this landing has been said to have been made on the so called "Dark side of the Moon"! I mean, can't they SEE that it's sitting in full sunlight? How doorknob dumb can you get? And, this hasn't been just local yokels either, national news outlets have also repeatedly made this gaff.

APODFORIST wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:26 pm

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:42 pm On the reporting of this historic mission I've been appalled by how often this landing has been said to have been made on the so called "Dark side of the Moon"! I mean, can't they SEE that it's sitting in full sunlight? How doorknob dumb can you get? And, this hasn't been just local yokels either, national news outlets have also repeatedly made this gaff. :lol2: :roll: :facepalm:

Dark means unknown in this context. Unknown things often seem gloomy. It is not meant literally but as a metaphor.

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:34 pm

APODFORIST wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:26 pm Dark means unknown in this context. Unknown things often seem gloomy. It is not meant literally but as a metaphor.

Occasionally, maybe. But usually it's just a stupid slip, a combination of ignorance and falling into a common English phrase that simply doesn't apply.

APODFORIST wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:26 pm

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:42 pm On the reporting of this historic mission I've been appalled by how often this landing has been said to have been made on the so called "Dark side of the Moon"! I mean, can't they SEE that it's sitting in full sunlight? How doorknob dumb can you get? And, this hasn't been just local yokels either, national news outlets have also repeatedly made this gaff.

Dark means unknown in this context. Unknown things often seem gloomy. It is not meant literally but as a metaphor.

rochelimit wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 8:10 am
Kudos to China!

com'mon US you can do it too!

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:07 pm
Well that's a bit surprising Chris. There doesn't appear to be any green or blue at all...

neufer wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 6:41 pm

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rochelimit wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 8:10 am
Kudos to China!

com'mon US you can do it too!

FLPhotoCatcher wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 7:39 pm

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:07 pm
Well that's a bit surprising Chris. There doesn't appear to be any green or blue at all...

There IS some blue in the lower-right corner...

But seriously, it does look too red. Maybe it's to honor the Communist Party?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Red_Army wrote:

Von Kármán Crater

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The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was created on May 25, 1928, at the beginning of the Chinese Civil War. Between 1934 and 1935, the Red Army survived several campaigns against the Nationalist forces who were led by the Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and engaged in the Long March.

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BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:42 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:20 pm

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:07 pm This must be just a bi-color, white and red image? (Not a complaint, just an observation/question)

The image was made with the Terrain Camera (TCAM) on the lander. That camera uses a CMOS sensor with a Bayer filter array... that is, pretty much a standard color sensor like you'd find in any camera. So the image is "true color". Of course, that's not to say it has been through whatever full processing workflow is utilized to calibrate color. But it is an RGB image, not a monochrome image case into a range of reds.

Well that's a bit surprising Chris. There doesn't appear to be any green or blue at all...

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:03 am

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 4:42 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:20 pm
The image was made with the Terrain Camera (TCAM) on the lander. That camera uses a CMOS sensor with a Bayer filter array... that is, pretty much a standard color sensor like you'd find in any camera. So the image is "true color". Of course, that's not to say it has been through whatever full processing workflow is utilized to calibrate color. But it is an RGB image, not a monochrome image case into a range of reds.

Well that's a bit surprising Chris. There doesn't appear to be any green or blue at all...

Quite a lot of signal on the other channels, actually.

• My grandmother's missionary cousin Mary McClure had to run from the
  Chinese Red Army in 1936 but was eventually captured by the Japanese in 1942:

http://dcollections.oberlin.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15963coll9/id/182379 wrote:
1936-03-23: SHANSI EXTRA World Flash et By United Press. Protection For China American educators and missionaries and their families sought refuge here or Inside the city walls of Taiku and Fenchow today from a Communistic army advancing through Khans province to the west General Yen has answered a request of the American Embassy for protection of missionaries by promising that he will see that they reach safety in towns in the Red armys path Newspapers report that the Communists have surrounded him.

Mary McClure is in Fenchow. Oberlin refugees who reached Peiping safely were Mr Raymond Moyer 21 head of the Oberlin in China and his wife and children. Fear was expressed for Mary McClure Oberlin graduate and the six Americans in Fenchow as Red armies completely cut off this city from the rest of the country Late reports indicated however that the communist horde might be headed in a northwesterly direction skirting Fenchow and bearing toward Taiku Airplanes from Taiku were scouting the territory and loyalist army officialspromised protection to the Americans in that city

https://archive.org/stream/oberlinalumnimag1946ober_t9p9/oberlinalumnimag1946ober_t9p9_djvu.txt wrote:

• Another exhibition presented the bequest of the late Mary McClure,
  which includes many fine Chinese bronzes and excellent paintings. Miss
  McClure studied in the Oberlin Academy and in the College of Arts and
  Sciences, graduating in 1918. She served as a missionary from 1918 until
  1942. A prisoner of the Japanese for some months, Miss McClure was re-
  leased by them and was repatriated on the first trip of the S. S. Gripsholm.
  She was returning to China in 1944 when she died in Calcutta, India.

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:47 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:34 pm

APODFORIST wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:26 pm Dark means unknown in this context. Unknown things often seem gloomy. It is not meant literally but as a metaphor.

Occasionally, maybe. But usually it's just a stupid slip, a combination of ignorance and falling into a common English phrase that simply doesn't apply.

APODFORIST is being quite charitable. Many of these pretty faced reporters wouldn't know what a metaphor is.