May 13 1972
From The Space Library
Meteorite crashed into moon near Apollo 14 Fra Mauro landing site with force estimated to be equivalent to 8900 kilonewtons (1000 tons of TNT)-100 times larger than impact of Saturn V S-IVB stage, larger than any previous seismic event recorded on moon, and large enough to record reflections from lunar core if it existed. Dr. Gary V. Latham, principal investigator for Apollo passive seismic experiments, said meteorite must have been about 3 m (10 ft) in diameter and probably created new crater as large as a football field. Signal recorded by four Apollo seismometers on moon was so strong that Apollo 14 seismometers were knocked completely off-scale for 16 min. Total signal lasted more than three hours and signals that might correspond to rain of debris thrown out by impact were recorded for about one minute. (MSC Release 72-105)
Supernova, or exploding star, 97 billion billion km (60 billion billion mi) from earth was discovered by Hale Observatories astronomer Charles Kowal. Kowal, who confirmed discovery on May 15, said supernova, brightest discovered in 35 yrs, could become "one of the most studied objects in astronomy." Marshall Space Flight Center astronomers Dr. Thomas Wdowiak and Joseph Michlovic used 1.5-m (5.6-ft) telescope at Univ. of Arizona's Catalina Mountain Observatory to observe super-nova in infrared, optical, and near-ultraviolet wavelengths immediately following first sighting and distributed findings. MSFC astronomer Dr. Thomas Parnell and Dr. G. J. Fishman of Brown Engineering Co. launched balloon over Lubbock, Tex., to make gamma ray observations of supernova for six hours. (AP, NYT, 5/26/72, 9; MSFC Release 72-83; Marshall Star, 6/28/72, 1)
AP quoted scientists as saying new mirror being installed in Boyden Observatory at Mazelspoort, South Africa, would provide most powerful telescope in Southern Hemisphere. Scientists planned to use telescope to flash laser beam to moon. (117 Post, 5/14/72, D5)
Delegation from Federation of American Scientists (FAS), nongovernment organization, left for People's Republic of China to explore means of improving contacts between Chinese and American scientists. (Science, 5/19/72, 783)
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