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| Wednesday 23rd of July 2008 - 9:58 pm BST |
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Geoff Burt meets Sir Patrick Mooreby Geoff Burt, Hampshire Astronomical Group
A while ago, I got the muse and decided to try my hand at writing astronomy articles. First stop was the South Downs Planetarium in Chichester, a very worthy enterprise which deserves as much publicity as possible. Having received full co-operation and encouraged by the result, I next turned to my favourite aspect of astronomy, lunar drawing. There is still considerable value in drawing astronomical subjects because there’s nothing quite like it for developing observational skills - drawing makes you observe the subject properly. The Moon is the ideal subject because it's big, bright and there's endless detail. On 5th June 2006, I made a drawing of Copernicus and submitted it to the Society for Popular Astronomy. Soon afterwards, it was pointed out that the drawing shows a possible Transient Lunar Phenomenon (TLP), in the form of a mysterious white spot in the deep shadow inside the crater. The white spot suggests a peak illuminated by the Sun from a low angle, but no such peak exists although I suspected nothing untoward at the time! The observation was subsequently logged, investigated and reported on by the British Astronomical Association and Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers. Not surprisingly, this provided a natural subject for a third article. This was also the perfect opportunity to return to the South Downs Planetarium to do some research in the library there. As with the first article, I received full co-operation and then out of the blue was asked, 'Have you spoken to Sir Patrick Moore about this?'. To cut a long story short, the arrangements were made and I went down to Selsey one Saturday morning to discuss TLP over coffee with Sir Patrick. It was he who first coined the phrase 'Transient Lunar Phenomena' back in the 1950s, to describe these fleeting aberrations in the appearance of the lunar surface. TLP events have rarely found favour among the scientific community because their ephemeral and unpredictable nature make them difficult to study. However, TLP have been reported for centuries, sometimes by distinguished and experienced observers, and the reality of such events is now no longer really in doubt. The favoured theory is that TLP are caused by gas emissions, possibly Radon, from maria boundaries and rilles. The emissions are thought to be caused by moonquakes, which in turn are induced by tidal forces around perigee. Assuming a manned return to the Moon within the next couple of decades, we may then see a resolution to the mystery of TLP.
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