Sky & Telescope - July 2019 - 7

Request for Information
I've been asked by several astronomical
societies to put together a lecture on the
creation and early history of Sky & Telescope, and I need background information on a number of people. Dates and
places of birth and death, photographs,
and biographical details (including
middle names) for any of the following
are welcomed:
* Clement S. Brainin (editor of The
Amateur Astronomer 1929-36);
* Leland S. Copeland (wrote observing
articles during the 1940s);
* Marian Lockwood (wrote for S&T
during the 1940s);
* Earle B. Brown (wrote Gleanings for
ATMs up to the 1950s);
* Jesse A. Fitzpatrick (wrote Observer's
Page 1941-45);
* Catharine E. Barry of Hayden Planetarium (wrote Sky Guides for The
Sky and S&T during the 1930s and
'40s);
* Alphonse P. Mayernick (wrote about

Peter Gibbons
Carrigrohane, Ireland

Brian Jones
Bradford, United Kingdom

FOR THE RECORD

Through a Glass, Darkly
Jerry Oltion was certainly correct that
dust-covered mirrors can still provide
good views (S&T: Mar. 2019, p. 36).

1969

1994

* In Binocular Highlight (S&T: Apr. 2019,
p. 43), M44, the Beehive Cluster (592 LY),
should have been included in the discussion of best and brightest star clusters for
binocular observing.

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75, 50 & 25 YEARS AGO by Roger W. Sinnott
1944

I recently "rescued" an old 8.75-inch
Dobsonian from a charity shop. The
main mirror was ﬁlthy, corroded, and
covered in dust. You wouldn't use it as
a shaving mirror. I turned the scope
on the night sky that evening without
cleaning anything or expecting to see
anything. But the views and the optics
were superb. The obscuring dust and
corrosion merely reduced aperture and
contrast.
I'm now in the process of getting it
re-aluminized and refurbished.

astronomy stamps for the ﬁrst six
issues of 1959 and issue 3 of 1962);
* Alan T. Moffet (wrote a maverick
installment of Astronomical Anecdotes in May 1965 S&T).
* Also, I'd like an image of Robert
Edward Cox (wrote Gleanings for
ATMs from the 1950s to '70s) as well
as any information and images relating to Loring B. Andrews (editor of
The Telescope 1933-37) and the editor
preceding him.
If you can help, please email me at
stars@starlight-nights.co.uk with
details, images, etc. Thank you!

º July 1944
Lunar Atmosphere? "Walter H.
Haas, of Upper Darby, Pa., writes:
'The occultation of Jupiter by the
moon on April 30th - May 1st was
observed with the 18-inch refractor
of the Flower Observatory, using
150×. . . . When the planet emerged
from behind the bright limb of the
moon, a hazy gray band concentric
with the lunar limb was seen across
the face of Jupiter. The angular
width of the band was estimated to
be three seconds of arc.
"'I am greatly interested in this
marking because of the interpretation that W. H. Pickering put upon
it [in an 1892 article:] 'The Lunar
Atmosphere and the Recent Occultation of Jupiter.' . . .'"
A keen observer, Walter Haas
later founded the Association of
Lunar and Planetary Observers.
But what had he seen? The Moon's
atmosphere is vacuum-thin. One
theory is lunar dust, kicked up by
high-speed particles from space.

Apollo astronauts did ﬁnd the
Moon to be quite dusty.

and 16 minutes sooner than this
preﬂight estimate.

º July 1969
"Go" for Apollo 11 "The Apollo 10
mission that ended so successfully
on May 26th provided the final tests
for the lunar module. The strangelooking craft that the astronauts
called Snoopy proved the workability of that kind of space vehicle.
Now the Lem is ready to carry two
men to the moon's surface about
July 20th. . . .
"When flying their Lem, the
astronauts stand at their control
stations, supported by a network of
cords and pulleys. Hooked Velcro
on the soles of the men's boots
'sticks' to Velcro strips on the deck
of the Lem to keep the astronauts
from floating around. . . .
"The historic moment when
[Neil] Armstrong emerges from the
Lem to set foot on lunar soil is due
Monday, July 21st, at 12:12 a.m.
[EDT]. . . ."
As it turned out, Neil Armstrong
took his "one small step" an hour

º July 1994
Robots in Space "Today scientists
are still analyzing the lunar samples
and Apollo's other data for clues
to the evolution of the Moon and
the inner solar system. Of course,
there are plenty of gaps in our
understanding that Apollo did not
fill, leaving openings for Clementine
and other automated missions.
The increasing sophistication of
such robotic explorers tempts us
to wonder whether they might ever
replace their creators. . . .
"The men who made the journey
can tell stories of the Moon's stark
beauty, of the giddy buoyancy of
walking in one-sixth gravity, of seeing the Earth as a blue and white
marble afloat in blackness. Those
stories . . . demonstrate what Neil
Armstrong said in 1989 . . . : 'A
human being can be amused and
amazed. A robot can do neither.'"
Apollo authority Andrew Chaikin
was writing in Focal Point.
s k y a n d t e l e s c o p e . c o m * J U LY 2 0 1 9

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Sky & Telescope - July 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - July 2019