Category Archives: Astronomy History

Eclipse of April 7, 1940

1940EclipseSeventy-five years ago today, April 7,  1940, an annular eclipse occurred, the center line of which passed through Texas and the southeastern United States.  Professor N. Wyman Storer of the University of Kansas took the opportunity to travel to Conroe, Texas, the closest point on the center line. There, he and assistants set up the University’s 6-inch refractor, shown here, on the tennis court of the Conroe High School, where he captured a number of good photographs of the eclipse.  The telescope was acquired by the University for $1000 in 1885, and was still in use as late as 1968.  The mount shown here was made of lumber, and cost $3.  The photos taken during this expedition can be found in the August 1940 issue of Popular Astronomy.

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OSCAR III: 50th Anniversary

OSCAR3Satellite

Fifty years ago, from March 9-27, 1965, the first two-way amateur satellite, OSCAR III, was in operation. The 16.3 kg spacecraft was launched on March 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, piggybacking with seven Air Force satellites. Over 1000 amateurs in 22 countries made contact through the satellite’s linear transponder, with both the uplink and downlink taking place on the 2 meter amateur band. Signals were received by the satellite on 144.1 MHz, and were retransmitted on 145.9 MHz. The downlink had a power of one watt, which was divided over the whatever stations were in the passband of the uplink frequency.

A beacon transmitter sending voltage and temperature readings was audible for several months. The orbit was nearly circular, with an altitude of 570 statute miles and an orbital period of 103.5 minutes.

OSCAR3The photo here shows Ed Hilton, W6VKP, and Don Norgaard, W6VMH, working on the satellite’s electronic package in Hilton’s garage. This photo is taken from the March, 1965, issue of Popular Electronics.  A summary of the mission and complete list of contacts made and calls heard during the spacecraft’s 250 orbits is also available online.



Vegetation on Neptune

Vegetation on Neptune (artist's conception).

Vegetation on Neptune (artist’s conception).

This 1914 drawing (an artist’s conception) depicts the vegetation supposed to exist on the planet Neptune. The latest spectrographic evidence suggested the presence of chlorophyll on all of the planets. Surprisingly, “the farther the planet from the sun, the more luxuriant the vegetation.” Accordingly, Neptune contains the lush growth shown here.

The illustration and accompanying text can be found in the April 11, 1914, issue of The Illustrated London News.  The article cites the work of Professor Percival Lowell.

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