INFRARED

STUDIES OF THE ECLIPSE MOON

BY

DAVID O. DARLING

When one searches the literature concerning different studies done on total eclipses of the Moon, it was the imaging of the Moon during totality with infrared film that captured my interest. It seem to me to be an excellent way to document the hot spots on the Moon to see if any correlation could be found between them and reported lunar transient phenomena. The results of this study was  published in Sky & Telescope magazine. It was upon reading these reports that I had my first flirtation with world of infrared photography. I had completed a whole series of infrared photographic sessions of several lunar eclipses, and found these photographic experiment gave me a number of surprise that I did not expect. I will come back later concerning the results of that work. 

 When one examine the photograph below taken on 27 September 1996 of the Moon in total eclipse by the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) satellite with its infrared telescope called Spirit III, one sees a totally different Moon. When looking at the photograph you can see the bright spot at the lower left of center, is the crater Tycho, the circular patch on the right side of the disk is Mare Crisium. The bright spots in the photograph correspond to warm areas on the Moon surface, the dark regions on the Moon are cooler. 

I believe that its very significant that the crater Tycho should be one of the hottest spots on the Moon surface while it passing through the umbra shadow. Considering that it has a history of lunar transient phenomena activity  while deep in total eclipse. This same kind of response was also recorded by ground based observatories who also photographed the Moon in infrared during other eclipses. There is something about the geologic makeup of this crater that allows it to absorb the heat during the lunar day, and when darkness falls it continues to retain the heat for longer periods of time than most other formations do.

The Moon going into the umbra shadow is same as the sunset terminator passing over the crater plunging it into darkness. All of the lunar transient phenomena events that I have witnessed with Tycho have taken place while sunset was in progress. This to me is more than coincidence, but a strong correlation between the infrared characteristics of this crater and the unusual behavior that takes place during encroaching night fall.

Eclipsed Moon in Infrared  by (DCATT Team, MSX, BMDO