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(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS
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on duplicating, publishing or distributing the
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files on KeelyNet except where noted!
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October 30, 1993
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LTP1.ASC
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This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Clark Matthews.
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ParaNet(sm): Freedom of Information for a better world!
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(C) 1991 ParaNet(sm) Information Service. All Rights Reserved.
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*****************************************************************
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ParaNet File Number:
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*****************************************************************
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With all of the speculation about alien bases on the moon
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and strange phenomena being seen occurring around the moon,
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ParaNet did some research on this and found some very interesting
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artilces pertaining to this phenomena known as Lunar Transient
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Phenomena. Although it is far from being proof that aliens have
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set up bases on the moon, it does provide for some interesting
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reading. During our search, we found a NASA publication titled
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"Chronological Catalog of Reported Lunar Events." This is
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contained in NASA Technical Report R-277, published in July,
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1968. This document details Lunar Transient Phenomena dating
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back to 1540. We will provide this document in another file, but
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for now, we did find an article that details the scientific
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communities concern now over this strange phenomena.
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=================================================================
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Reprinted from Sky & Telescope Magazine, March, 1991.
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LUNAR TRANSIENT PHENOMENA (LTP)
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by Winifred Sawtell Cameron,
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La Ranchita de la Luna,
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200 Rojo Drive,
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Sedona, Arizona
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On January 24, 1956 amateur lunar observer R. Houghton was
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drawing the crater Liebig on the edge of Mare Humorum when
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something bright flashed in the field of his 7-inch telescope.
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The flare came from the nearby crater Cavendish, which was just
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emerging from the lunar night. Closer inspection revealed that a
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peak on the crater's eastern wall was repeatedly flashing.
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Houghton called astronomer Brian Warner and told him what to
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look for. Warner too saw the flashes and called them "so
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conspicuous that they were seen immediately." The other peaks in
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the vicinity remained normal.
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On the night of November 2-3, 1958, Soviet astronomer
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Nikolai A. Kozyrev witnessed a strange phenomenon while making
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spectrograms of the crater Alphonsus with the Crimean
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Page 1
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Astrophysical Observatory's 50-inch reflector. As he watched
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through the telescope's guiding eyepiece, he saw the crater's
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central peak blur and turn an unusual reddish color. The
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spectrograms confirmed his visual impressions of a volcanic
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event; they showed an emission spectrum of carbon vapor (S&T:
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February, 1959, page 184).
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On July 19, 1969, the Apollo 11 command module had just
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achieved orbit around the Moon when the Mission Control Center in
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Houston, Texas, received word that amateur astronomers reported
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transient phenomena in the vicinity of the crater Aristarchus.
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Asked to check out the situation, astronaut Neil Armstrong looked
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out his window toward the earthlit region and observed an "area
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that is considerably more illuminated than the surrounding area.
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It just has -- seems to have a slight amount of fluorescence to
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it." Although he wasn't sure, Armstrong believed the region was
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Aristarchus.
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Accounts of lunar transient phenomena (LTP'S) are not new.
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Over the past 30 years, I have collected close to 2,000
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observations dating from as far back as 557 A.D. Most are visual
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reports of bright spots, flashes, hazes, and curious temporary
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colorations of the lunar soil. Reputable observers such as
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William Herschel, Wilhelm Struve, and E. E. Barnard have seen
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them. Some LTP's have even been photographed, as well as recorded
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polarimetrically, photometrically, and spectroscopically. Yet,
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despite a profusion of observations and six Apollo missions to
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the Moon, the nature of LTP's remains elusive and their origin an
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enigma.
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About 200 of some 30,000 lunar features visible in
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telescopes have been recorded as LTP sources. Half have shown
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activity only once. Of the remainder, a mere dozen features
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contribute three-fourths of all reports. One area, Aristarchus-
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Herodotus-Schroters Valley, is responsible for fully one-third of
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the total number sighted.
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Most LTP activity occurs along the edges of the maria, near
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volcanic features, like domes, sinuous rilles, and craters with
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dark halos or floors. But these regions, like the rest of the
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Moon, have long been considered geologically dead. Circular maria
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are large, primordial impact basins that were filled with lava
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about 3 billion years ago. There is evidence, however, that
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volcanism has occurred in some craters that are perhaps only a
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million years old. Could the bright flashes, hazes, and colors
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reported at these sites be proof that the Moon is still active?
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THOUGHTS ON THE ORIGIN OF LTP'S
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Possible explanations for LTP's are not lacking. One of the
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earliest proposals was made by Jack Green of Douglas Advanced
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Research Laboratories in Huntington Beach, California. While
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studying the standing levels of water and oil in deep wells, he
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found that the levels varied in concert with the Moon's
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anomalistic month (27.55 days, from perigee to perigee), as if
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the strength of the Moon's tidal force affected the tiny cracks
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in the bedrock through which oil and water move. Based on this
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idea, he suggested that LTP's are degassing phenomena brought
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about by the Earth's tidal effects on the Moon. Maximum
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Page 2
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degassing, he believed, would occur at the Moon's most eccentric
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apogees and a minimum at the least eccentric perigees. After
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analyzing 1,200 observations, however, I could not find such a
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relationship.
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Some LTP phenomena may be caused by sunlight interacting
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with the lunar soil. On October 30, 1963, James Greenacre and
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Edward Barr observed red spots sparkling on the southwest wall of
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the crater Aristarchus, the east wall of Schroter's Valley, and a
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hill between them (S&T: December, 1963, page 316). The phenomena
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was observed visually by others and recorded spectroscopically as
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well. At the same lunar phase a month later, Greenacre and Barr
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saw a similar event. Since sunrise on these features occurs when
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the Moon is about 11 days old, Greenacre thought that the low
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lunar Sun was somehow responsible. Indeed, thermoluminesence mat
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be the cause. Gases in the lunar soil, frozen during the night,
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could heat up and escape near sunrise.
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Could high-energy solar particles impacting the Moon also
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trigger LTP activity? Shortly after a large flare erupted on the
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Sun in 1963, Zdenek Kopal and Thomas Rackham at Pic du Midi
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Observatory in southern France photographed a local brightening
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around the craters Copernicus, Kepler, and Aristarchus. Kopal
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proposed that energetic particles from the flare caused lunar
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rocks to fluorescence. Such activity might be expected especially
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at full phase when the Moon passes through the Earth's
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magnetosphere, where solar wind particles become trapped.
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ANALYSIS
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LTP sightings fall into five categories: brightenings,
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darkenings, reddish colorations, bluish colorations, and
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obscurations. When plotted against the lunar anomalistic month,
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the data show that LTP activity peaks somewhat when the Moon is
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moving from apogee to perigee, especially about halfway between
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these points when the Moon is approaching Earth the most rapidly.
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When the Moon is opposite that point in its orbit, LTP activity
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is at a deep minimum. Since tidal stressed build from lunar
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apogee to perigee, one might expect such a pattern.
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When LTP phenomena are plotted against the Moon's phases, it
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appears that the most phenomena occur around the time of full
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Moon (though LTP's have been observed throughout the lunar
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cycle). Also, more are seen near the sunrise line than the
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sunset line, though that might be simply because far more people
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observe the waxing Moon in the evening than the waning Moon after
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midnight. Gaseous phenomena and anomalistic brightenings seem to
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peak when the Moon is a waxing crescent.
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ARE THEY REAL?
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Some astronomers dismiss all LTP's as either aberrational
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effects in Earth's atmosphere, changes in lunar lighting
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conditions, or outright illusions. Such skepticism, however,
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flies in the face of those who have devoted decades to
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familiarizing themselves with the Moon, and who very well know
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these common observational effects. * LTP's are localized
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phenomena. They are regions or features that experience change
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while the rest of the Moon remains normal.
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Page 3
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No doubt some apparent LTP's are caused by atmospheric
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effects. One is the "ashen glow." Here, sunlight scattered by
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Earth's clouds is cast onto the Moon's night surface, resulting
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in LTP's that simply reflect changes in the level of
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illumination. Another pseudo-LTP concerns bright features
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fringed with blue (north) and red (south) seen against dark
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backgrounds. These probably are aberrational effects, namely
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atmospheric dispersion near the observer, perhaps enhanced by a
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lingering temperature inversion.
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Sightings of a starlike point on the Moon may also be
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disregarded as an LTP. This is the only transient phenomenon I
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have ever observed myself. But I suspect it is merely a
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reflection effect from flat facets on areas of large rocky
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outcrops when the Sun and observer are at just the correct
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angles. (High magnifications spread the light into an area
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instead of a point.)
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Even if we eliminate the three types of non-LTP's discussed
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here, that still leaves more than 40 percent of the reports
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unexplained.
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There is evidence that the remaining LTP's are of lunar
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origin. a substantial number of sightings were independently
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confirmed. Professional astronomers have recorded them on film
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and spectrograms, as well as with photoelectric photometers and
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polarization equipment. Experiments on the Apollo missions
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detected trace outgassings of the radioactive elements radon an
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polonium, suggesting that more substantial amounts of commoner
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substances were released at the same time. One experiment
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possibly detected water vapor during the largest moonquake on
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record (Richter 4). the epicenter of that quake was near or in
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the large, fractured crater Gauss north of Mare Crisium. To me,
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this is the one lunar feature that looks as if it had been
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covered with a thin crust of glass subsequently shattered by an
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impact.
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While in lunar orbit, Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17
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witnessed a flash near the crater Grimaldi west of Oceanus
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Procellarum. Since he was dark adapted, it's possible he saw a
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cosmic-ray flash within his own eyeball. But it's also possible
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he saw a lunar event. In the past, Grimaldi had been responsible
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for more than a dozen reports of flashes. The crater Plato near
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Mare Imbrium is another source of flashes. Although many craters
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responsible for LTP sightings have central peaks with summit
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craters, Plato has none.
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So the Moon may not be such a cold, lifeless neighbor after
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all. It still breathes through the action of LTP's, which in my
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opinion are probably gentle outgassings of less-than-volcanic
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proportions. Whatever they are, thanks to the LTP's, the Moon
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remains a curious place.
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END OF FILE - WRONG#/PARANET FILE: LTP1.TXT
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If we can be of service, you may contact
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Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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Page 4
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