Sky & Telescope - May 2020 - 6

FROM OUR READERS

Saturn

Saturn, Spica, and Mars
from southern Italy during
the summer of 2012

Spica
Mars

(S&T: Dec. 2019, p. 58) was no exception. Regarding the controversy surrounding the origin of the Moon's
craters, allow me to bring the debate
up to the year 1953.
That was the year the eminent British
astronomer Patrick Moore published
his illustrated, 255-page A Guide to the
Moon. In it, Sir Patrick had no doubt that
lunar craters were volcanic in origin.
Moore died in 2012 (S&T: March
2013, p. 16), so I wonder how long he
took to accept Eugene Shoemaker's
deﬁnitive 1960s ﬁndings, conﬁrmed by
the Apollo 11 samples, that the Moon's
craters are of meteoric origin.
Herman Heyn
Baltimore, Maryland

Karl-Ludwig Abken's ﬁrst-time observation of Neptune (S&T: Jan. 2020, p. 6)
reminded me of my own planet adventure in the summer of 2012. While staying
with my family in the small ﬁshing village of Pioppi in southern Italy, I was lucky
enough to be able to see all eight planets.
Mars was closing in on Saturn in the evening sky, while Venus and Jupiter glimmered in the morning sky as they slowly moved apart. Uranus and Neptune are
difﬁcult to see from the northern latitude of 60° where we live, but in Pioppi they
were high above the dark sea horizon in the middle of the night.
Mercury was low in the morning sky, so it took extra effort to spot it. While
making a one-night stop in Pompeii, I managed to get a glimpse of the innermost
planet by climbing a chair on the balcony of our hotel room, which was just a mile
or so from the ruins of an ancient Temple of Mercury. It was an appropriate conclusion to a fortnight with planets.
Markus Hotakainen * Espoo, Finland

Forensic Astronomy
I was quite entertained by Jeffrey
Dobereiner's article "Shadow of a
Doubt" (S&T: Jan. 2020, p. 26). Attorney Abraham Lincoln also saved an
innocent man from a murder conviction using astronomy, which was
described by Dan Abrams and David
Fisher in Lincoln's Last Trial.
Duff Armstrong had been indicted for
murdering a man one night at the end of
a picnic. An eyewitness testiﬁed that he
was within 150 feet and easily saw Armstrong strike the victim in the light of
the full Moon. Lincoln then cross-examined the witness by producing an 1857
almanac proving that there was little
more than a quarter Moon that night,
6

M AY 2 0 2 0 * S K Y & T E L E S C O P E

and that the Moon had already set by the
time of the incident. The picnic ground
had been pitch-black. Lincoln established
the prosecution's pivotal witness as a
liar, and Armstrong was acquitted by the
jury after only one hour.
I recently published a book of scientiﬁcally based short stories, Seeking
Hidden Treasures. I think that anyone
who enjoyed Dobereiner's article would
appreciate my ﬁction.
James Magner, M.D.
Woodbridge, Connecticut

Historical Dramatic Irony
I always appreciate your articles on
the history of astronomy, and "Just
Over a Century Ago" by Klaus Brasch

In his article, "Just Over a Century
Ago," Klaus Brasch alludes to astrobiology as one of the "'sciences without
subject matter,' until recently." This is
astounding news to me.
I have been reading Sky & Telescope
and many science books for over 50
years, and all I have observed is the
repeated disappointment among scientists where any detection of extraterrestrial life is concerned.
What is the actual, substantive content of astrobiology? I want to know
what genuine indigenous life forms
have been found on any celestial body
other than Earth.
As far as I am aware, the unambiguous answer is none.
Daniel W. Rosser
Onarga, Illinois

Klaus Brasch replies: As for the

substantive content of astrobiology,
I recommend readers look at NASA's website: https://is.gd/astrobiology_nasa.
NASA's 1976 Viking missions, its current Curiosity rover, and the European
Space Agency's upcoming Rosalind
Franklin rover are all designed to look for
life signatures on Mars.
Even more ambitious is NASA's proposed Europa Clipper mission to investigate this icy Jovian moon and see if its
subsurface ocean could harbor life.
All this and more falls under the
purview of astrobiology.

NIGHTSCAPE: MARKUS HOTA K AINEN

My Planet Adventure

https://www.is.gd/astrobiology_nasa

Sky & Telescope - May 2020

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