n. a. kozyrev - spectral evidence of outflow of molecular hydrogen in the region of aristarchus

7/26/2019 N. a. Kozyrev - Spectral Evidence of Outflow of Molecular Hydrogen in the Region of Aristarchus

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SPECTRAL EVIDENCE OF OUTFXOW OF MOLECULAR HYDROGEN N THE

REGION OF ARISTARCHUS i

N A Kozyrev

ABSTRACT. Sp ec tr al obs erv ati ons of th e c r a t e r Ar ist are hus

du ri ng November and December 1961 showed a c om par ati ve ly s t a b l e

outf low of gas nea r i t s cen te r .

The emission band 4634 f A

wi th a sharp red border and weak emission i n t he orange-red

s p e c t r a l r e gi o n

were detec ted .

These da ta a re ev idence th a t th er e was an ou t f low of

molecular hydrogen of t h e fumarole type of Eart h volcanoes,

I n ord er t o c l a r i f y th e luminescence glow of th e Moon i n 1955,

a

photo-

me tr i c comparison was made of th e spe ct ra of d if fe re nt o bj ec ts on th e Iunal:

su r f a ce and th e so l a r spect ru m [ I ] .

The spectrograms were obtained on a

50 inch

re f l ec to r o f th e Crimean Ast rophysica l Observa tory , us ing a spec t rograph having

a l i n e a r d i sp e r s io n of ab o ut

3

t

mm

n ea r

H

P a r t i c u la r a t t e n t i o n

w s

i n t h e s p e c t r a of o b j e c t s on t h e L unar s u r f a c e and i n t h e s o l a r s p e c t r m .

m r

was a s i g n i f i c an t d i f f e r en ce i n th e co n to ur s o f th ese l in es and th e co n to ur s of

th e so la r spect ru m o n ly i n th e spect ru m o f th e Ar i s t a r ch u s c r a t e r .

n

t h e Aris

t a r ch u s spect ru m, th e l in e s w e r e n ar ro wer th an i n t h e s o l a r spect ru m,

It

thus

f o l l o w s t h a t t h e r e

i s

a lumin escence g lo w i n - th e Ar i s t a r ch u s c r a t e r

which

closes

t h e l i n e c on to ur s,

A photometr ic s tudy showed th a t t h i s g low ex is ts

i n the

narrow wave port ion of the spectrum a t 4000 A

Pn

a d d i t i o n , t h e r e w a s a

second, weaker reg ion of luminescence between 4400 and 4100 A

Numbers i n t h e marg in d es ig n a te p ag in a t io n i n o r ig in a l f o r e ig n t e x t



This luminescence of th e Ar is ta rch us c r a t e r was most c l ea r l y apparen t after

a f u l l Moon. However, a t t h e same phase bu t i n di f f e r e n t months, th e Busaineseence

br ig h tne ss was f a r from th e same. These f luc t ua t ion s i n b r igh tnes s had no con

n e c t io n w i th s o l a r a c t i v i t y . Th e refo re , t h e q u es t io n a r i s e s o f wh e th er th ey m

n o t b e e x pl a in e d by c ha ng es i n t h e a c t i v i t y o f t h e c r a t e r i t s e l f .

Such

an

ex

p lan a t io n may b e v a l id , i f a s i g n i f i c an t p o r t io n o f t h e o bserved emiss ion s i s

caused, not by luminescence of s o l i d rocks,

bu t by luminescence of gas

outflows

from th e Ar i s t a r ch u s c r a t e r ,

I n o r d e r t o s t ud y t h i s prob le m, i n

November-

December, 1961, a new se r i e s o f s p e c t r a l o b se rv a t io n s o f t h e Ar is t a r ch u s

crater

was performed on a 50-inch r e f l e c t o r of t h e Crimean Observatory.

, I n 1 96 1, s p e c t r a of t h e A r i s t a r c h u s c r a t e r w e r e obtained on a different

sp ec tro g rap h wi th a sma l l d i sp e r s io n , o n th e o rd e r of 15 0 a t m n ea r H

.

Y

The sp ec tr a were recorded wit h a wide

s l i t

thus making i t p o s s i b l e t o

have

the

sp ec t ru m o f th e c r a t e r and th e s p ec t r a o f i t s sur roundings a t th e same

time A t

t h i s t ime, the photometr ic p rocess in g of t he sp ec t ra ob ta ined was concluded by

comparing th e spect rum of th e ob jec ts s tu d ie d wi th th e spec t rum of the su r ro md -

in gs , and no t wit h th e so l a r spectrum. On November 30, i n th e mornirng, t he Moon

was in th e l a s t q u a r t e r . Spect ro grams o f th e Ar i s t a r ch u s c r a t e r and

i t s

selrromd-

i n g s

were

obta ined during th e nightt i me i n November on th e fol low ing days

25-26 27 28 29

-30 and i n December:

1

2 2 3 .

On the se nig ht s, a la rg e number of spectrograms were made of detai ls

i n the

Ar is t a r c h u s and Herod otus c r a t e r s , t h e Sch ro e te r Va l ley , i n d iv id u a l c r a t e r s ,

and ot he r de t a i l s of th e Wood Spot . A group of emiss ion bands, beginning

abr upt ly and passing f ur th e r toward the short-wave end of t h e spectrum, was

even

no ti ce ab le without photometr ic comparison on ce r t ai n spectrograms obtaine d

in

t h e v e ry cen t e r of th e Ar i s t a r ch u s c r a t e r , between

H

and

N .

Fig u re

I shows

f

th e re s u l t s der ived f rom photometr ic p rocess ing of spec trograms of t h i s s pe c t r a l

region.

The lo g a r ith ms o f t h e r a t io s b etween th e b r ig h tn ess o f th e

Aristalrchus

ce nt er spectrum and th e br i ght ne ss used f o r comparing th e spectrum of one of the

a d ja c en t d e t a i l s o f t h e l u n a r s u r f a c e a r e p l o t t e d a lo ng t h e o r d i n a t e axis

Spect rogram s f o r November

5

and

7

were each measured wit h res pe ct t o t w o

dif-

fe ren t compar ison spec t ra .

A s m y

b e seen f r o h F ig u re 31 the emiss ion

may be



Figure

1

Emiss ion observed i n th e bl ue por-

t i o n o f t h e sp ec tr um f o r t h e c r a t e r

Ar i s t a rchus . One d iv i s ion on t h e ve r t i c a l

s c a l e equal s 0.10 of t h e common loga rith m of

br igh tness .

observed on two spec t rogram

obtained on December 3 The

sharp emiss ion boundag near

t h e red end of t he sp ee t r m

and

i t s

cl ea rl y marked st ru c-

t u r e d e f i n i t e l y e s t a b l i s h t h e

gaseous nature of this emission,

Important confirmation

of this

conclus ion

i s

t h e fact that i n

photographs taken December 3,

th e emission bands observed

above th e br ight

central pore

t i o n of t h e c r a t e r protrude I0

somewhat into the

s p e c t r u m

of

th e shade thrown

out

by t h e

Eas te rn s i de o f t he c ra t e r edge.

t

thus fol lows th a t th e emiss ion source

ex-

t e n ds t o a c e r t a i n h e i g h t ab ov e t h e c r a t e r s u r f a c e .

The obse rva t ions i nd i ca t e t ha t t he re

i s

a c t u a l l y l i b e r a t i o n o f g as es i n t h e

c e n t e r of t h e A r i s t a r ch u s c r a t e r , more p r e c i s e l y , i n

i t s

ce n t ra l peak ,

The a@-

t i v i t y of such processes cannot be cons tant .

t i s

v e r y p o s s i b l e t h a t t h e sb-

s e r v a t i o n of e mi ss io n s c l o s e t o t h e l a s t q u a r t e r ,

i . e . ,

when t h e Sun

i s

&ove

t h e c r a t e r ,

i s

not acc id en t a l , and t ha t t he ou tf l ow s f gases

i s

f a c i l i t a t e d

by hea t in g by s o la r rays of t h e cor responding c ra t e r r eg ions .

t i s now

i n t e r -

e s t i ng t o c l a r i fy t h e chemica l na tur e s f t he gases p roduc ing t he observed

emission.

Figure 1 shows t h a t th e s harp emission boundary from th e red end

of

the

spec trum has a wavelength between 4630 and 4638 1

On t h e av era ge = 4634

fo r t h i s boundary. The t ab l e s s f molecu la r sp ec t r a do no t i n d i c a t e

t h e

exis-

ten ce of a band with a red edge of t h i s wavelength. Bands of t h e malecuies

M

o r Z r O ar e more su i t ab le . However, t h e behavior of ot he r bands of th es e mole-

cules completely re f ut e such

a

p o s s i b l e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n .

There

i s

s t i l l

one

o t h e r i n t e r e s t i n g p o s s i b i l i t y r e l a t e d t o t h e form of t h e E a s te r n hyd rog en



Fig u re

2

Comparison of emission observed i n t he Arista rehu s

crater

( so l id l i n e ) w i th th e emissio n sp ec trum of mo lecula r hy-

d ro gen o b ta in ed wi th th e same d i sp e r s io n (dash ed l i n e , d r am i n

a n a r b i t r a r y s c a l e ) . One d i v i s i o n on t h e v e r t i c a l s c a l e

equals

0.05 of t h e common br ig ht ne ss l oga rith m.

spectrum, i . e . t h e sp ec trum o f th e

M

mo lecu le s f o r sma l l d i sp e r s io n s .

Thhe

b r i g h t e s t l i n e s of t h i s complex spect ru m are concent rated i n two wavelength

reg io n s

-

h e reddish-orange and th e blue .

The blue region of H m i s s i o n

b eg ins w i th

a

p a r t i c u l a r l y b r i g h t l i n e h av ing

a

wavelength a t

4634 A This

s

t h e main l i n e o f th e s in g u le t sy s tem 3d C - 2pvC of hydrogen vapor.

Because o

t h i s l i n e , f o r s m a l l d i s p e r s i o n s t h e b l u e s p e c t r a l r e gi o n of

H

w i l l appear as

a wide band with a sharp red edge.

For purposes of bet ter comparison

i n

t h e

laboratory, we recorded and measured the

H

spectrum obtained by a sp ec t ro -

graph,

s f a lm o st p r e c i s e l y t h e same d i s p e r s i on a s t h a t us ed t o o b t a i n

the

spec

t ru m o f t h e Ar i s t a r ch u s c r a t e r .

The dashed l i n e s i n Figure 2 show the r e s u l t s

of measuring t h i s l abor a tory spec t rum of H

The so l id l ine shows the supple-

mentary emissions o f t he Ar is ta rc hus c ra te r measured over the e n t i r e spec t r .m,

I n t h e b l u e s p e c t r a l re gi on , t h i s

curve i s obta ined by averag ing th e da t a i n

Fig u re

1

The dashed and s o l id l i n e s c lose ly co inc ide . With respec t

t o the

redd ish-orange sp ec t r a l reg ion , where th er e

i s

in te ns e emission of

H

rno8ecules

(pr imar i ly th e t r i p l e t l i n e s s f o rtho-hydrogen) , pho tometr ic measurements

re-

v e a l a weak glow of t h e Ar is ta rc hus c ra te r .



t i s impor tant t o note t ha t both thes e emiss ions a re bounded by approxi-

l

mately the same wavelength region.

The la c k of agreement between t h e patter n.

o f t h e s o l i d l i n e and t h a t o f t h e dashed l i n e must p r im ar i l y p e r t a in t o the

small

d i s p e r s io n and t h e o ve rexp os ur e o f p h o to g r ap h s in t h i s s p e c t r a l region

t

i s o u r op in io n t h a t t h e m a te r i a l i n F ig u re

2

l e ad s t o t h e r e l i a b l e c s ncLu sion

th a t t h e g a s o u tf lo w in g f rom th e A r i s t a r ch u s c r a t e r i s molecular hydrogen,

Usually, t h e atomic hydrogen spectrum e x i s t s along wit h th e seccandaqr

hydrogen spectrum under lab ora to ry c ond itio ns.

In the spectrum of the

Aris tarc hus cr at er , sp ec ia l measurements d id not rev eal any dif f ere nce s between

th e Balmer l i ne s and t he Balmer l i n e of th e spec t rum fo r

i t s

s u r r o m d i n g s ,

Thus,

i t

may b e assumed t h a t no si g n if ic a n t amount sf atomic hydrogen s

pro

duced i n the ex ci ta t i on of molecular hydrogen outf lowing from the cen ter of the

A r i s ta r ch u s c r a t e r . T hi s r ep r e s en t s a v e ry imp o rt an t ch a r ac t e r i s t i c

sf hydrogen

glow pr oc es se s on t h e Moon. t must be noted th a t i t i s extremely d i f f i c u l t to

f in d a cor rec t exp lana t ion f o r t h i s g low mechanism, due t o th e la rg e = c i t a t i o n

energ ie s o f

H

molec ules. The observed out flow of molecular hydrogen

cmnot

be

the r es u l t o f pho tod is soc ia t ion o f wate r vapor , s in ce on ly the fo rmat ion o f

and OH

i s

i n t r i n s i c t o t h i s p r oc es s.

H

can be produced by th e ph otsdissoc ia-

2

t i on o f o t her molecu les . t must th er ef or e be concluded t h a t molecular hydrogen

i s

produced d i r ec t l y i n t he i n t e r i o r o f th e Moon.

t

can t h en accm u la t e t h e r e ,

Th is conc lus ion regard ing ex is tence o f molecu lar hydrogen i n th e in te r i o r

of

the

Moon agree s wit h t h e exi ste nc e of l o c a l accumulations of hydrogen

i n

t h e E a r th ' s

c r u s t .

The

impor tan t ro le o f molecu la r hydrogen ou t f low in th e vo lc mi c

pra-

cesses on the Ear th

i s

w e l l known.

The observa t ions d escr ibed her e show tha t comparat ively s t ab le gas outflows

of t h e fumarole type of our t e r r e s t i a l volcanoes ex i s t

on t h e Moon, i n a d d i t i o n

t o spontaneous volc an ic proce sses observed on :~ovember

3

1958 and October 23,

1959 i n t h e A lf on s c r a t e r . The fu m ar ol e f i e l d was l o ca t ed t o t h e ea s t

of

t h e

ce n t ra l peak i n th e Ar i s ta rc hus c ra te r , and was on the o rder of 1 -2 i n s i z e ,

i , e . 2 4 km. C lo se t o t h i s f i e l d (on t h e e a s t e r n edge of t h e A r i s t a r A u s

c r a t e r an d

a t

t h e apex of t h e Sch roeter Val ley) Greenacre and Barr a t the

Lowell Observatory

on

30 October

1 9 6 3

observed two re gi on s which were reddish-



orange i n co lo r and l a s t ed f o r

20

minutes [ 2 ]

During these observations,

the

Ar is ta r chus c r a t e r was c los e to t he t e rmina to r fo r 2.5 days before

the f u l l

Moon.* The br ie f appearance of th e br ig ht c ol or i s def in i t e ly caused

by

the

outflow of gas es whose glow was p a rt ic ul a rl y apparent on th e background of t h e

l u n a r su r f a c e c l o se t o t h e t e r mi n at o r. The almost simultaneous

appearance

of

gases i n two reg ions separ ated by 35 sm

(5

m in ut es e a r l i e r i n t h e S c hr o et e r

Valley) could have been th e re s ul t of a si n g le deep process.*

Thus,

these

new

observat ions of Greenacre and Barr confi rm the g rea t volcanic a c t iv i t y

of the

Ar is t a r chus c r a t e r r eg ion.*

In conclusion, i t must be pointe d ou t t h a t t h e enigma of t h e Ar i s t a r chus

cr a t er has been f a r f rom solved by thes e observat ions .

The question

s t i l l

of th e Ar i s ta r chus c r a t e r .

In ge nera l , was t h i s luminescence of

a s o l i d

surface

o r was th e luminescence discovered i n 1955, which close d t he contours

o

t h e

B

and

K

l i ne s , en t i r e ly th e luminescence o f ce r t a in gases out f lowing from t he

crater i n t e r i o r which

are

s t i l l

unknown?

Tra ns lat or s Note:

Next

l i n e d el et ed

s

i n di c at e d i n o r i g i n a l

text

n. a. kozyrev - spectral evidence of outflow of molecular hydrogen in the region of aristarchus

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