Single Stage to Orbit, Eventually

Posted on December 17, 2022 by Brian H. Gill
Stanley Kubrick/Geoffrey Unsworth's '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968)
Shuttle flight deck, top; space station interior, bottom. “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)

A tip of the hat to Anthony Stevens, whose recent op-ed started me thinking about this week’s topics.

  • “NoMoNASA“
    Anthony Stevens, Anthony Stevens’ Weblog (November 25, 2022)

I’ll be talking about ideas that didn’t work out, or haven’t yet; three cool single-stage-to-orbit vehicles, including one that flew; and, finally, looking back and ahead. Or, rather, the other way around.

Plus, I’ve included short videos showing Skylon, the VentureStar, and a test flight of the McDonnell Douglas DC-X Delta Clipper prototype.

Beginnings, 1925-1968

Stanley Kubrick/Geoffrey Unsworth's '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968)
Watching the news during a meal. “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)

Stanley Kubrick may not have known more about technology than the average film director, but he had the good sense to ask folks who did. I gather that’s why so much tech in his “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) looks familiar.

On the other hand, today’s chatbots aren’t nearly as smart as the film’s HAL 9000.

In the late 1960s, when “2001” was made, many computer scientists figured that we’d have human-like artificial intelligence within a few decades. Then they tried developing systems with human-like artificial intelligence, and that’s another topic.1

One reason we don’t have spaceships like the ones in “2001” is, arguably, because we’ve found unexpected technical problems along the way.

But I’m pretty sure we could have had equivalents of the film’s fully-reusable Orion shuttle by now. Along with at least one thriving boom town on Earth’s moon, and nuclear powered interplanetary ships like Discovery One.

We could, that is, if our world’s history had been different during the last 54 years.

“…Technology, however, does not proceed in isolated fashion, separated from the surrounding social, cultural, and economic environment….”
(“The Path to the Space Shuttle: The Evolution of Lifting Reentry Technology,” Introduction, Dr. Richard P. Hallion, (November 21, 1983) An AFFTC Historical Monograph, History Office; Air Force Flight Test Center)

I’d add “political” to Dr. Hallion’s list, although that’s arguably covered in his social and cultural categories.

A Fictional Spaceplane and Silbervogel, a Proposed Long-Range Bomber

Artwork by Karl Tate's artwork for '2001: A Space Odyssey:' Orion III spaceplane riding Orion I booster stage. Source: From Adam K. Johnson.'The Lost Science of 2001,' Christopher Frayling/'The 2001 Files' via Space.com.
Orion III spaceplane riding booster stage “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)

The “2001: A Space Odyssey” spaceplane looks a lot like Eugen Sänger and Irene Bredt’s Silbervogel long-range bomber concept. To me, at any rate.

E. Sanger, J. Bredt's 'A Rocket Drive for Long-Range Bombers' (1944)
Silbervogel (Silverbird) concept sketch. (1944)

If that’s so, I don’t blame Kubrick and the folks publicizing “2001” for not highlighting where the filmmakers got their ideas for the shuttle.

The Silbervogel — “Silverbird” in German — had been part of Nazi Germany’s Amerikabomber program. That sort of publicity Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer didn’t need.

The Silbervogel would have been launched from a three kilometer long rail, just shy of two miles, accelerated to about 1,930 kilometers per hour by a sled drive. Then its rocket engine would take it to an altitude of 145 kilometers, 90 miles.

At that point, the Silbervogel would be going about 21,800 kilometers an hour.

That’s not quite orbital velocity, so the aircraft would drop back to the stratosphere, bouncing off our atmosphere’s denser layers. Then the Silbervogel would arc along until it hit the stratosphere again.

Its the same basic principle used in stone skipping.

A prototype Silbervogel was never built.

Which is probably just as well.

Seems that Sänger and Bredt’s mathematical model for reentry was a bit off.

As designed, the aircraft’s heat shield, along with the airframe, would have melted during its first reentry.

Correcting that problem would have let the heat shield — and the Silbervogel — survive. But the added weight would have made it dubiously useful as a bomber.2

Skip Entry
NASA's graph, showing 'the extent to which the Orion spacecraft's range can be extended with a skip entry, compared to the range the Apollo spacecraft was able to fly with a direct entry.' (2021)
Graph showing Apollo and Orion altitude/range reentry paths. NASA (2021)

If skip entry — non-ballistic entry in geek-speak — sounds familiar, maybe you read about it in coverage of Artemis I’s return last Sunday.

It’s what Orion, the Artemis crew capsule, uses to reduce stress during reentry.

The Silbervogel’s skip entry would have given it a range of between 9,000 and 24,000 kilometers, 12,000 to 15,000 miles.

That’s enough to carry it halfway around the world. Or would have been, once the aircraft’s heat shield was beefed up, and new technologies developed.3

But that didn’t happen.

Backing up a bit, the Silbervogel wasn’t the first proposed hypersonic vehicle.

Max Valier and the 1920s

Max Volier's rocket-propelled aircraft concepts. (ca. 1920s)Max Valier was born in Tyrol, Austria, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. Take your pick. That particular bit of real estate has changed hands and names a few times since 1895. I think it’s currently part of Italy.

Anyway, Max Valier was a technician, scientist, publicist or science fiction writer. Which of his many hats gets attention depends on who’s talking.

Or, my view, he was all of the above.

He also had what I see as a very good idea.

Along with some that were impractical for all but a few applications. Although his rocket-propelled cars might have helped raise interest, and funding, for his rocket-propelled transatlantic aircraft.

Valier’s idea was to design and built a series of aircraft, starting with what in the 1920s would have been cutting-edge propeller driven airliners with auxiliary rocket engines.

Then, step-by-step, each new version would get more of its power from rockets and have faster cruising speeds. Eventually, the airliners would be entirely rocket-propelled. And have top speeds that would make going into orbit an option.

That was Mas Valier’s idea.

I think it made sense. Back in the 1920s, demand for fast transatlantic passenger service was on the horizon.

Funding research and development with profits from Valier rocketliner passenger services might have been practical. After the Great Depression, anyway.

That didn’t happen, either. Max Valier stopped living, abruptly, in 1930. He had been a bit too close to an exploding rocket engine.

Instead, we got World War II, the Cold War and the Space Race. The latter fast-tracked a series of crewed expeditions to Earth’s moon.4

I don’t think the Apollo program was a mistake. Given the circumstances, it made sense.

But it did mean skipping over development of economically viable launch vehicles.

Hopes, Dreams and Weather Satellites

Thomas Voter's cover for Robert A. Heinlein's 'Rocket Ship Galileo,' Scribner's first edition. (May 1, 1947) Thomas Voter/Scribner, via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.Max Valier’s incremental development of suborbital and low Earth orbit rocketliners wasn’t entirely forgotten, however.

In R. A. Heinlein’s “Rocket Ship Galileo” (1947), for example, a professor and his youthful assistants refit a mail rocket with a thorium nuclear pile. Then, using zinc as propellant, they fly to the moon.

Heinlein was often careful when it came to science and technology in his stories, so I figure his novel’s vehicle might have reached the moon.

But I doubt that more than a very few folks could afford a DIY nuclear spaceship. And I am about as certain as I can be that leaving a trail of radioactive zinc would have broken several laws: by the time the technology became available, at least.

Even so, it was a good story.

Now, going back what we got instead of Max Valier’s gradual development of low Earth orbit passenger and freight service.

The Space Shuttles, while the fleet was in service, were partially re-usable; which made lofting equipment and people into space a trifle less ruinously expensive.

But there weren’t enough Shuttles to satisfy demand for launch services.

In the 1980s there weren’t as many communications, navigation, weather and other Earth observation satellites as there are today. But we’d learned how useful they could be.

That warranted development of single-use launch vehicles ranging from Japan’s SS-520 to America’s Saturn V.

And standardized miniature satellites like CubeSats — are yet another topic.

As for the hopes and dreams of folks like Max Valier and stories like “Rocket Ship Galileo,” I see significant connections between science fiction and the history of aerospace tech.5

Single-Stage-to-Orbit: Two That Never Flew, One That Did

J. Philip Drummond (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States), Marc Bouchez (MBDA Bourges, France), Charles R. McClinton (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States): 'Overview of NATO Background on Scramjet Technology,' Chapter 1, Figure 1. (2006) from NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server, used w/o permission
From a summary of scramjet technology in development. NASA (2006)

We still don’t have an equivalent of Max Valier’s rocketliner. But we’re getting closer to a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane’s test flights.

I’ll be taking a quick look at two of my favorites. And the McDonnell Douglas DC-X: which isn’t a spaceplane, but did make several test flights.6

Skylon


(video, music 6:45)

Reaction Engine Limited’s Skylon hasn’t been the only only air-breathing single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane that made it past concept art.

But it’s the only one I’ve been following that’s still in development. I think it helps that Reaction Engines Ltd. offers products and services that are available today.

The basic idea behind Skylon and other air-breathing spaceplanes is using oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere for the first few minutes of flight. Then, in Skylon’s case, at Mach 5 or so the spaceplane’s engines switch over to oxygen stored in its tanks.

That means less oxygen for Skylon to carry onboard, and more payload/cargo capacity.

It’s smart, efficient, and requires technology we don’t have yet. The last I heard, Reaction Engines Ltd. is still developing Skylon’s SABRE engines.7

Venturestar and X-33


(video, music 9:13)

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's photo: a test of twin Linear Aerospike XRS-2200 engines, originally built for the X-33 program. (August 6, 2001)
Linear Aerospike XRS-2200 engines being tested at Stennis Space Center, Mississippi. (2001)

I like the The Lockheed Martin VentureStar. A lot.

It looks cool, and its linear aerospike rocket engine is cool technology. Or will be, once it’s out of the research and development stage.

I figure that’ll happen, eventually. A linear aerospike rocket engine is a close cousin to the aerospike or plug nozzle rocket engine.

In both cases, instead of burning fuel and oxidizer inside a roughly bell-shaped tube, aerospike rocket engines do their combustion on the outside of a roughly cone-shaped spike. Or, for a linear aerospike, on either side of a tapered bar.

Maybe that sounds crazy, but it works.

Or did, at any rate, when the folks at NASA mounted half of an X-33 lifting body mockup with a linear aerospike on an SR-71 Blackbird. That was in 1998.8

Nozzle Shapes, Ideal and otherwise
NASA illustration showing what happens when ambient pressure is at, above, and below a rocket nozzle's exit pressure.

The ideal shape for a rocket engine’s nozzle changes as air pressure changes.

Eventually someone may develop a bell nozzle rocket engine that changes shape as air pressure changes.

How, I’ve no idea, since we keep today’s engine nozzles from melting by running comparatively cool fluid through them. The plumbing’s complicated as it is.

Aerospikes would be the right shape at all altitudes and pressures, since the outer wall of the combustion chamber is the burning fuel-oxidizer mix. And, while in at atmosphere, the surrounding air.

Keeping the aerospike from melting can be tricky. I gather that’s one reason the Lockheed Martin and NASA folks decided to go with the X33/VentureStar linear aerospike.

Then they dropped the project.9

And that’s yet again another topic.

Delta Clipper


(video, sound 2:48)

The McDonnell Douglas DC-X, the prototype test model for its Delta Clipper, had the elegant lines of a pallet tank.

The roar of its engines would have given noise abatement activists conniptions.

I think it was the closest we’ve come to a commercially viable single-stage-to-orbit vehicle.

McDonnell Douglas saw the Delta Clipper as a cargo carrier. Which is a good thing, since it would have reentered Earth’s atmosphere nose-first: leaving passengers hanging head-down, barring a rotating passenger section.

The DC-X and Delta Clipper needed no next-generation technology.

The DC-X test vehicle flew, landed and was prepped for its next flight by a crew of 38; operating out of a 40-foot trailer. Turnaround time was around 26 hours.

The idea was to develop a workhorse cargo ship, and show that operating a freight run to low Earth orbit could be as straightforward as any other long-distance freight service.

Then, thanks at least in part to NASA’s increasing role in DC-X development, the prototype was refitted with new technologies.

The DC-XA, renamed the Clipper Graham, flew four more times.

On its fourth and final flight, July 31, 1996, the Clipper Graham took off and flew perfectly. But only three of the craft’s landing legs deployed.

That wasn’t enough to keep the DC-XA upright. So when the engines stopped it fell over, caught fire and was destroyed.

One version of what happened was that NASA’s demands for new technology and paperwork hadn’t set well with the DC-XA crew. Neither had on-again/off-again funding and threats of cancellation. And that was the end of the Delta Clipper.

But not the end of folks having a shot at turning cargo and passenger service to low Earth orbit into an extension of our existing transportation network.10

Our Moon, Mars and Someday the Stars

Photo: Virgin Galactic's Spaceport America. (2017)
(Spaceport America, southern New Mexico. (2017))

A few decades after Max Valier’s shared his dreams of transatlantic rocketliners, passenger and freight air service between Europe and Americas was routine.

A century later, air travel isn’t newsworthy unless something goes spectacularly wrong.

Assuming that the 2020s are pretty much like the 1920s, I could also assume that a few decades from now we’ll have routine spaceline flights on the Earth-Luna run. And that a century from now the first expeditions will be returning from the Alpha Centauri system.

That, I am quite sure, won’t happen. Not over the next century.

I figure that transatlantic air service of the 1930s was possible because there were already comparatively wealthy countries on both sides of the ocean.

Right now, there’s nobody living on Earth’s moon. That will very probably change in a decade or so.

But Lunar settlements NASA and other space agencies are planning sound like today’s Antarctic bases. I think we’re a long way from settlements that will grow into cities like Boston and Charleston. More than a few decades, anyway.

Tracy Caldwell Dyson's photo: self portrait in the ISS Cupola module, Expedition 24. (2010) From NASA/Tracy Caldwell Dyson, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.That said, I think that we will keep visiting our moon, follow robotic pathfinders like Perseverance and New Horizons, and find reasons for settling down on or at least near other worlds.

And that some of us will look at this wonder-filled universe and remember wisdom we’ve been passing along through the millennia.

“What are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them?
“Yet you have made them little less than a god, crowned them with glory and honor.”
(Psalms 8:5–6)

“Terrible and awesome are you,
stronger than the ancient mountains.”
(Psalms 76:5)

“Yours are the heavens, yours the earth;
you founded the world and everything in it.”
(Psalms 89:12)

“Indeed, before you the whole universe is like a grain from a balance,
or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.”
(Wisdom 11:22)

Historical Perspective, Technology and the Kardashians

Joseph Keppler's 'The Bosses of the Senate' cartoon, first published in Puck Magazine. (January 13, 1889) This version by the by the J. Ottmann Lithographing Company, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.
“The Bosses of the Senate” cartoon by Joseph Keppler. (1889)

I think the folks at McDonnell Douglas had the right idea, keeping their Delta Clipper’s tech simple. And letting flight and ground crews concentrate on doing their jobs.

But I can see the NASA brass viewpoint, too. Part of NASA’s job is developing new technology, so tricking out the DC-X probably made sense to them.

As for demanding paperwork (apparently) above and beyond the call of reason? NASA is part of a bureaucracy. A government bureaucracy, at that. Paperwork is inevitable.

So, maybe, was cancellation of both the DC-X and X-33/VentureStar programs.

The first because it was far too straightforward for NASA at the time.

The second because developing linear aerospike technology involved more cost and time than NASA could afford. Or sweet-talk Congress into supporting.

The good news, as I see it, is that folks like Elon Musk are still allowed to try using what’s already been invented, develop new technology, and — eventually — make the Earth-to-orbit run as routine as transpacific flights are today.

That, again as I see it, is a good reason for letting individuals earn more wealth than I’ll ever see.

Although putting up with ‘Kardashian’ headlines is an annoyance.

But if it also means that we get individuals like Andrew Carnegie, Jacques Cousteau and Elon Musk? That, arguably, is worth the annoyance.

'Robber barons,' before the phrase became common. John Leech's 'Punch' cartoon: 'How to Insure Against Railway Accidents. Tie a couple of Directors à la Mazeppa to every engine that starts a train.' (March 26, 1853)On the other hand, I know why we changed the rules, back when folks were getting fed up with train wrecks and exploding boilers. And with those 19th-century American businessmen who acted as if America’s Congress was on their payroll.11

I think both laissez faire capitalism and no-hold-barred socialism look good on paper. And that neither is a good idea.

I’ve talked about that, technology, spaceships and being human before. Often:

1 Imagining the future, 1968:

2 Silbervogel in context, very briefly:

3 Somewhat-technical stuff:

4 A hop, skip and jump over late 19th and 20th century topics:

5 Transportation tech and satellites by the bushel:

6 Single-stage-to-orbit research, mostly:

7 Reaction Engines Ltd and Skylon:

8 A promising new technology:

9 Aerospike efforts:

10 DC-X, the Delta Clipper; I think this could have been in service today:

11 Private-sector people, perceptons and operations:

Posted in Back to the Moon, Onward to Mars, Discursive Detours, Series | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Exoplanets, Air, and the Marshmallow Planet

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Brian H. Gill
James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam false-color image of Jupiter, Jupiter's rings and some of its satellites. (2022) from NASA/ESA/Jupiter Early Release Science team; Image processing: Ricardo Hueso (UPV/EHU), Judy Schmidt. Used w/o permission.
Jupiter, its rings and two moons: Amalthea and Adrastea. Image from JWST’s NIRCam.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) took that image of Jupiter, its rings and moons, a few months back. Aside from being, as one of my daughter’s noted, “shiny,” the picture gives scientists a new look at the Solar System’s largest planet’s cloud-tops.

It also gives them more data than they’d expected, which is mostly good news; but not entirely. I’ll get back to that.

…’We hadn’t really expected it to be this good, to be honest,’ said planetary astronomer Imke de Pater, professor emerita of the University of California, Berkeley. De Pater led the observations of Jupiter with Thierry Fouchet, a professor at the Paris Observatory, as part of an international collaboration for Webb’s Early Release Science program. Webb itself is an international mission led by NASA with its partners ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). ‘It’s really remarkable that we can see details on Jupiter together with its rings, tiny satellites, and even galaxies in one image,’ she said….”
(“Webb’s Jupiter Images Showcase Auroras, Hazes,” Alise Fisher, James Webb Space Telescope, NASA Blogs (August 22, 2022))

I stayed slightly-focused this week, which is slightly surprising. Considering what’s been going on. I talk about that under And Now for Something Completely Different:

Update (December 10, 2022)
Still more analysis of data from JWST:

JWST and Infrared Light: Making the Invisible Visible

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Pat Izzo's photo: The Webb Telescope team posing with the full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope on the lawn at Goddard Space Flight Center, where it was displayed September 19-25, 2005. (September 2005) via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.
The Webb Telescope team and full scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope. (September 2005)

James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam false-color image of Jupiter, Jupiter's rings and some of its satellites. (2022) from NASA/ESA/Jupiter Early Release Science team; Image processing: Ricardo Hueso (UPV/EHU), Judy Schmidt. Used w/o permission.Jupiter doesn’t really look like that, not to our eyes.

But it really is a picture of Jupiter: not a frozen pizza or sausage slice. I talked about a slice of choizo, a “top scientist” and consequences of posting during cocktail hour a few months back. (August 7, 2022)

Jupiter looks the way it does in that NIRCam picture because JWST used two of NIRCam’s 29 filters: F212N and F335M.

F212N lets infrared light from about 2.1 to 2.15 microns through to the imager.

F335N lets light from around 3.15 to 4 microns through.

Some folks say “microns,” some say “micrometers;” they both mean μm: 1×10-6 meter, and it’s a very short distance. But even so, infrared wavelengths are longer than those of light we see directly with our eyes.

Black body radiation curve, Astronomy Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.Richard Hueso of UPV/EHU, Judy Schmidt and the folks at NASA and ESA made the JWST Jupiter images visible by assigning data from the two filtered images to colors we can see.

They showed F212N data as orange and F335M as cyan.

Now, about those acronyms. UPV/EHU stands for University of the Basque Country, ESA is the European Space Agency and NASA is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NIRCam isn’t quite an acronym. It’s the what folks call the JWST’s Near Infrared Camera. It sees wavelengths from 0.6 to 5 microns.1

HIP 65426 b: First Exoplanet Imaged by JWST

James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam false-color image of exoplanet HIP 65426 b in different wavelengths of infrared light (2022) from NASA/ESA/CSA/A. Carter (UCSC)/ERS 1386 team/A. Pagan (STScI), used w o permission.
Exoplanet HIP 65426 b, in several infrared ‘colors. “☆” marks the star HIP 65426’s position.

The star HIP 65426 is very roughly twice as massive as our sun. It’s one and three-quarters times as large.

Putting it another way, HIP 65426 is a bit less massive but as big, as Sirius, and a bit cooler.

HIP 65426 is a main sequence A2 star, Sirius is a main sequence A0.

That’s Sirius A. Sirius B is a white dwarf star, with about our sun’s mass packed into a sphere about Earth’s size: 12,000 kilometers, 7,500 miles. Sirius is the brightest star in our night sky because it’s fairly close, 8.6 light-years.

HIP 65426 is about 356 light-years away, in the general neighborhood of Zeta and Xi2 Centauri, so we can’t see it without a telescope.

HIP 65426 b is about half again as big as Jupiter, with eight or nine times Jupiter’s mass. It’s very roughly as far from HIP 65426 as Eris is from our sun.

The JWST images up there were taken by NIRCam, I talked about that before; and MIRI. MIRI, Mid-Infrared Instrument, that sees wavelengths from five to 28 microns.

HIP 65426 b looks like three longish blobs in NIRCam images because of oddities in NIRCam’s system. The planet’s almost certainly roughly spherical.

Apart from that, it’s early days to say anything definite about HIP 65426 b, although we’ve known a little about it since 2017. JWST images and spectral analysis have given scientists a great deal more data. And that, in a way, is a problem.

What we do know is that HIP 65426 b doesn’t fit today’s models of how giant planets form. What we don’t know includes just what to make of JWST’s detailed spectra.2

WASP-69 b and “Exquisite Data” — in Huge Quantities

NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI's graphic, showing JWST spectra of WASP-96 b: a hot giant planet that shows signs of water vapor in its atmosphere. (2022) via Sky and Telescope, used w/o permission.
JWST spectra of WASP-96 b, showing water in the giant planet’s atmosphere.

“Good science takes time.

“That’s not a popular refrain in our 24-hours news cycle — especially when there’s a new space telescope returning crystal-clear views of the infrared universe nearly every day. But for astronomers drinking from the firehose that’s coming from the James Webb Space Telescope, time is exactly what they need.

“Webb’s Early Science Release program has been delivering exquisite data on a variety of celestial targets. Some of the most anticipated of these are the spectra of exoplanets. But a study in Nature Astronomy urges caution in interpreting these chemical fingerprints of alien worlds….”
(“Webb’s Exoplanet Data Are Almost Too Good,” Monica Young, Sky and Telescope (September 20, 2022))

We know that WASP-96 b’s atmosphere contains water, along with hydrogen, helium and a little sodium. What we don’t know is exactly how much of each substance is there.

WASP-96, WASP-69b’s sun, is a K5 main sequence star. It’s a little smaller and cooler than ours and a tad richer in heavy elements.

WASP-96 b has about as much mass as Saturn, but is just a little smaller than Jupiter. That’s very likely because it’s so close to its sun, completing an orbit in about 94 hours.

Scientists figure WASP-96 b is losing mass, but not fast: about half an Earth-mass every billion years. But so far, they haven’t spotted a comet-like tail streaming from the planet.3

WASP-39 b: a Hot Jupiter and/or Saturn

NASA, ESA, CSA, L. Hustak (STScI)'s illustration of the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Team's data: 'A series of light curves from Webb's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) shows the change in brightness of three different wavelengths (colors) of light from the WASP-39 star system over time as the planet transited the star July 10, 2022'
Three light curves, showing change in brightness as WASP-39 b passes in front of its star.

WASP-39 is about 750 light years away, give or take. It’s a main sequence G8 yellow dwarf. Our sun is spectral class G2.

It’s in the general direction of Phi Virginis, but more than five times more distant. WASP-39, I mean, obviously. Our star is right next door.

I’ve seen WASP-39 b called a hot Jupiter and a hot Saturn. Both labels make sense, since the planet’s about as big as Jupiter and has roughly the same mass as Saturn.

But it’s hotter than either.

WASP-39 b is about 4,517,650 miles from its sun, compared to 43,317,410 miles for Mercury’s distance from our sun.

WASP-39 is a tad cooler than our star: 5,400 K to old Sol’s 5,770 K. That makes WASP-39 b hot, around 1100 K: or 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit, 900 degrees Celsius.

“K” in this context is geek-speak for degrees Kelvin. That’s the International System of Units temperature unit, starting at absolute zero. K temperatures used to be related to the Celsius scale, where zero degrees is water’s freezing point. But since 2019, it’s been —

“…defined by fixing the Boltzmann constant k to be exactly 1.380649×10−23 J⋅K−1. Hence, one kelvin is equal to a change in the thermodynamic temperature T that results in a change of thermal energy kT by 1.380649×10−23 J….”
(Kelvin, Wikipedia)

— none of which makes much difference in my daily routines.

Fahrenheit, the temperature scale my country uses, defines zero degrees as the freezing point of brine made from water, ice, and ammonium chloride. Probably.

I gather that there are a few versions of how the Fahrenheit scale started.

At any rate, WASP-39 b is a hot gas giant, whipping around its star every about 98 hours or so, with water, carbon dioxide, sodium and sulfur dioxide in its atmosphere.4

Two ‘Firsts’ — Carbon Dioxide; and Sulfur Dioxide, Evidence of Photochemistry
NASA, ESA, CSA, L. Hustak (STScI)'s illustration of the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Team's data: 'A transmission spectrum of the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-39 b captured by Webb's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) ... reveals the first clear evidence for carbon dioxide in a planet outside the solar system. This is also the first detailed exoplanet transmission spectrum ever captured that covers wavelengths between 3 and 5.5 microns. (July 10, 2022)'
WASP-39 b: “first clear evidence for carbon dioxide in a planet outside the solar system.”

I’m running out of time, again, for reasons I’ll get back to: so instead of rehashing my source material, I’ll just slap down a few excerpts and move along.

“…Early Release Science Programs for Solar System Science
Early Release Science (ERS) programs were developed by STScI and the JWST Advisory Committee to showcase the capabilities of JWST and help familiarize the broader scientific community with the functionality and data products of the spacecraft’s instrument suite. These observations are scheduled to take place during the first five months of JWST science operations. The ERS programs have no proprietary period, ensuring timely dissemination and analysis of results….”
(“JWST — Solar System Science ,” Astrochemistry Laboratory/Code 691, JWSTSSS, Science and Exploration Directorate, NASA (Last Updated: November 30, 2022))

Basically, folks running the JWST and STScI (Space Telescope Science Institute) are trying something new. Fairly new, anyway.

Instead of hanging onto data for a while, only letting a few privileged individuals and groups see what’s new, JWST and STCcI have been releasing new observations as they come in from the JWST.

I think that’s a good idea, partly because my personal experiences haven’t encouraged admiration for ‘good old boy’ networks.

On the other hand, I haven’t learned just how many folks get early access. Looks like there is an “early release list” of sorts, probably limited to scientists who’ve demonstrated both interest and ability in analyzing this sort of data.

“…A group of exoplanet experts won a coveted spot on the early release list, and the five studies on WASP-39b are part of that effort. Astronomers had already observed WASP-39b with several ground- and space-based telescopes, and it was visible at the start of science operations, making it a perfect target for immediate observation.

“The studies focus on WASP-39b’s atmosphere. JWST observed this planet at near-infrared wavelengths using three instruments — one camera, one spectrograph, and one instrument that’s a combination of the two.

“The first study was released in August 2022, reporting carbon dioxide in the planet’s atmosphere. The Spitzer Space Telescope had previously hinted at the gas’s presence, but JWST’s Near Infrared Spectrograph saw a much clearer signature, verifying the detection for the first time on an exoplanet.

“In other papers, the astronomers note sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere, which is evidence that radiation from the host star is interacting with the molecules in the atmosphere. This is the first time such photochemistry has been observed outside the solar system….”
(“Webb Telescope Surveys a Hot Saturn,” Arwen Rimmer, Sky and Telescope (December 2, 2022))

A couple more points.

Carbon dioxide in a planet’s atmosphere isn’t unheard of. But this is the first time it’s been detected in an exoplanet’s atmosphere.

And sulfur dioxide in WASP-39 b’s atmosphere very strongly suggests that photochemical reactions are happening there.5

Part of the trick now will be learning how much of each substance is in WASP-39 b’s atmosphere, and that’s another topic. One I’ll leave for another time.

TOI-3757 b: The Incredible Marshmallow Planet

Pixabay's photo of marshmallows, via Smithsonian Magazine Sarah Kuta's 'Puffy, Marshmallow-Like Planet Could Float in a Bathtub:' about exoplanet TOI-3757 b which has the same average density as a marshmallow. (October 25, 2022)

TOI-3757 b is a super-puff planet, with a mass not much more than Earth’s, but a radius greater than Neptune’s. What I take to be reliable numbers say its density is 0.27 grams per cubic centimeter.

That, I gather, is about as dense, on average, as a marshmallow.

I’m also not entirely sure that TOI 3757 b really is the least-dense exoplanet we’ve spotted.

Some sources gave its density in terms of grams per cubic feet, which struck me as at best an odd mix of measurement systems.

We’ve spotted other super-puff planets: WASP-17 b and Kepler-51 b, c, and d, for example.

Since I don’t have time this week to both find and conform numbers and ‘do the math,’ I’ll accept the assertion that TOI 3757 b is about as dense as a marshmallow. Which is pretty cool.

Or, more accurately, hot. Probably 759 K, if scientists’ calculations are right. That’s 486 Celsius, 906 Fahrenheit. That’s hot enough to melt either lead or zinc.

TOI-3757 b is around 580 or 590 light-years out, in the general direction of Delta Aurigae. It has roughly Saturn’s Mass, but is a little bigger than Jupiter. The planet’s year less than 82 hours long, putting it about 3,574,150 away from its sun.

NASA says its star, TOI-3757, is spectral class K. Which makes sense, since the surface temperature of class K stars is between 3,900 and 5,300 K. The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia, Exoplanet.eu, says TOI-3757’s temperature is 3913 K.6

A Little Science

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's illustration: light being absorbed by and transmitted through a planet's atmosphere. Used w/o permission.

I really will get back to why I’m scurrying this week.

But first, what scientists are doing when they look at data from the JWST. Well, part of what they’re doing.

Spectroscopy or spectroscopic analysis sounds very scientific and technical. And it is.

But it’s not all that different from what we do every day when we look at something and decide that it’s water, or concrete, or chocolate milk.

Different sorts of stuff reflect or absorb light differently. Chocolate milk, for example, reflects more low-frequency visible light than the higher frequencies. Not that we think of it that way. When we talk about it at all, we generally say ‘it’s brown.’

The same principles apply to studying light — visible, infrared or otherwise — from exoplanets, although spectroscopy involves numbers, where our built-in visual system seems to just work.

A Hubble press release included a pretty good description of what scientists and the JWST do when they’re learning what’s in distant atmospheres.

“…To determine what’s in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, astronomers watch the planet pass in front of its host star and look at which wavelengths of light are transmitted and which are partially absorbed….”
(“Hubble Traces Subtle Signals of Water on Hazy Worlds,” Rob Garner, Hubble, Goddard Spaceflight Center, NASA (December 3, 2013; Last Updated August 7, 2017))

Oddly enough, studying the spectra of light that’s been transmitted through a substance is called absorption spectroscopy, not transmission spectroscopy.7

And Now for Something Completely Different

My methylphenidate prescription, with one day left. (June 10, 2021)And now, finally, I’ll talk about why I’ve been scurrying this week.

Maybe “scurrying” isn’t the right word. Jittering, maybe? Distracted? Preoccupied? Never mind.

I’ve talked about what’s behind what’s been happening before.

So feel free to skip down to the inevitable links, take a walk, or do whatever.

First, the good news. Some of my health — physical and mental — issues are more manageable now than they would have been back in the ‘good old days.’ Some of my mental health issues involve physical health, and that’s yet another topic.

The point is that my ‘what’s wrong with me’ list is mildly extensive. Details vary over time and, I suspect, updates to the DSM, but items have included:

  • ADHD: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, inattentive type
  • ASD: Autism spectrum disorder
  • Cluster A personality disorder
  • GAD: Generalized anxiety disorder
  • PDD: Persistent depressive disorder
  • PTSD: Post traumatic stress disorder

The not-so-good news is that my disorders are real, and inconvenient. Putting it mildly. And, I nearly forgot, this week’s checkup’s followup includes another blood test next week.

I’m not looking forward to that, but realize that it’s a good idea.

Back to good news, this isn’t the 1960s. Treatments for ADHD, for example, are available.

But some of the treatments have a bit of not-so-good news as part of the package.

Doing What I Can

Left: W. Spoone's 'Spooner's Magic No. 7' 'I feel a fit o'them curst blue devil coming across me again.' Right: Vincent van Gogh's 'Sorrowing Old Man' (At Eternity's Gate) (1890)
Depression, as shown by Spooner and Van Gogh.

I’d prefer having problems that could be resolved with a nice chat, followed by deciding that everything will be just fine.

If it was that easy, I’d have been perfectly perfect in my teens.

It isn’t, I wasn’t, and I’m still not.

So, quite a few years back, after trying other alternatives, a psychiatrist suggested that I consider methylphenidate.8 It’s a central nervous system stimulant that can help folks like me deal with ADHD.

It’s also arguably over-prescribed, and definitely addictive.

I knew that once I started taking it, stopping would be unpleasant. At the time, I knew the risks and thought that the benefit/risk balance favored starting the medication.

I hadn’t realized how often I’d experience withdrawal as a result.

Methylphenidate, you see, is a controlled substance. Federal rules being what they are, I need a new authorization each moth for the next month’s supply.

Sometimes the authorization gets lost in the mangle. Sometimes, more recently, local pharmacies can’t get the medication. That’s been happening more often, apparently due to pandemic-related supply chain SNAFUs.

But I still think the benefit/risk balance is favorable. I like being able to use my brain without metaphorically fighting the machinery.

Dealing With the Occasional SNAFU

National Institutes of Health's illustration: regions of the brain affected by PTSD and stress. (ca. 2018)This month, I hit the jackpot. The pharmacy tried requesting authorization four times before getting the paperwork.

And then they didn’t have methyphenidate in stock. Or any of many related medications. I don’t envy them.

When I realized that an authorization snarl was in progress, I put myself on half-doses. I’ve been taking only the ‘morning’ methylphenidate tablet this week.

That way, I could keep going until Monday before running out, and withdrawal would be somewhat less unpleasant.

Finally, good news. When I checked, Friday afternoon, on the pharmacy’s shipment status: they had received the medication I need. I’ll be picking it up shortly.

Okay. I’m back.

Cultural assumptions being what they are, I’d better explain why I’m not ‘trusting God.’ And/or not writhing in agony over my presumed guilt for not being perfectly healthy.

Basically, it’s because life is a ‘precious gift’ from God. So is health. Getting and staying healthy is a good idea. Within reason. Even taking painkillers is okay. Again, within reason. (Catechism, 1506-1510, 2279, 2288-2289, 2292)

Links, a mixed bag:

1 JWST and infrared astronomy:

2 Stars, planets and technology:

3 Studying a recently-discovered gas giant:

  • Wikipedia
  • Planet WASP-69 b
    The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia, Exoplanet.eu
  • WASP-69 b
    NASA Exoplanet Catalog
  • “Probing the atmosphere of WASP-69 b with low- and high-resolution transmission spectroscopy“
    S. Khalafinejad, K. Molaverdikhani, J. Blecic, M. Mallonn, L. Nortmann, J. A. Caballero, H. Rahmati, A. Kaminski, S. Sadegi, E. Nagel, L. Carone, P. J. Amado, M. Azzaro, F. F. Bauer, N. Casasayas-Barris, S. Czesla, C. von Essen, L. Fossati, M. Güdel, Th. Henning, M. López-Puertas, M. Lendl, T. Lüftinger, D. Montes, M. Oshagh, E. Pallé, A. Quirrenbach, S. Reffert, A. Reiners, I. Ribas, S. Stock, F. Yan, M. R. Zapatero Osorio, M. Zechmeister6; article A142; Astronomy and Astrophysics; (Received April 27 2021; Accepted August 24, 2021; December 2021 issue) via EDP Sciences

4 Geek-speak, mostly:

5 Terminology, technology and a puffy planet:

6 Puffy planets and more:

7 Spectroscopy — colorful science:

8 Finally; what’s a “DSM,” and one of my medications:

Posted in Discursive Detours, Exoplanets and Aliens, Journal, Science News, Series | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

JWST: Names, Claims and Attitudes

Posted on December 3, 2022 by Brian H. Gill
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Pat Izzo's photo: The Webb Telescope team posing with the full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope on the lawn at Goddard Space Flight Center, where it was displayed September 19-25, 2005. (September 2005) via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.
The Webb Telescope team and full scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope. (September 2005)

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI and Webb ERO Production Team's image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The Cartwheel galaxy group: Cartwheel Galaxy (ESO 350-40 / PGC 2248 / 2MASX J00374110-3342587 / ...) and smaller associated galaxies. Data from Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) (released August 2, 2022 by NASA)NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) December 25, 2021.

By July of 2022, the JWST had settled into position at the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point: about 1,500,000 kilometers, 930,000 miles from Earth.

Then, after deploying its heat shields and mirrors, the JWST started sending back remarkable images.1

And, even more remarkable, it was still called the James Webb Space Telescope. I’ve no idea why NASA didn’t admit their mistake and submit an acceptable name. Particularly when ‘everybody knows’ that James Webb was one of THOSE people:

Then, last month, NASA admitted that James Webb had been a federal employee during the late 1940s to early 1950s lavender scare. And that he’d tried to limit Congressional access to the Department of State’s personnel records.2

McCarthyism — and Why I Don’t Miss the ‘Good Old Days’

Keep America Committee's 'At the Sign of the UNHOLY THREE' flier, warning against fluoridated water, polio serum, mental hygiene: and 'communistic world government.' (May 16, 1955) via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.Considering what had been happening to insufficiently anti-communist Americans during McCarthyism’s heyday, I’m mildly surprised that James Webb hadn’t been blacklisted as a communist agent. Or a fifth columnist, fellow traveler or maybe even a card-carrying communist!

Lack of zealous cooperation with outfits like the House Un-American Activities Committee wasn’t prudent back then.

But NASA couldn’t find evidence that James Webb had plotted against LGBTQI+ in general or GS-14 budget analyst Clifford J. Norton in particular.

On the other hand, he had been NASA’s administrator from February 14, 1961, to October 7, 1968.

And Clifford J. Norton had been fired from NASA in 1963, after he’d been arrested by Washington, D.C., police for making a “homosexual advance.” That arrest, and the investigation which followed, was enough to get Norton fired.3

Yesteryear’s Attitudes

EPA's photo: 'Two of the spas were across the road from each other in Atlanta.' From BBC News article, 'Atlanta shootings: Suspect charged with murder as victims identified' (March 18, 2021) used w/o permission.Cultural mores, U.S. Civil Service rules and Cold War jitters of 1963 made due process irrelevant: my opinion.

This excerpt from a 1969-70 analysis of the Clifford J. Norton situation isn’t easy reading, but arguably shows a bit of what life was like in early 1960s America.

“…In a recent policy statement, the [United States Civil Service] Commission stated: ‘Persons about whom there is evidence that they have engaged in or solicited others to engage in homosexual or sexually perverted acts with them, without evidence of rehabilitation, are not suitable for Federal employment.’…
“…The Commission’s position appears to reflect the sentiments of Congress for, as the Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments has stated, ‘homosexuals and other sex perverts are not proper persons to be employed in Government for two reasons; first, they are generally unsuitable, and second, they constitute security risks.‘…”
(“Federal Employment of Homosexuals: Narrowing the Efficiency Standard;” Catholic University Law Review, 19 Cath. U. L. Rev. 267 (1970)) [emphasis mine]

Oi. A brief digression about “security,” real and imagined.

There were, I think, real threats to national security in the 1960s. That said, by the 1970s, I’d become weary of hearing “national security” invoked: seemingly whenever some bigwig was either having having a snit, or pushing some pet project.

I see the same thing happening today, with different slogans.

Now back to that Norton thing.

“…The primary questions presented for review by the appellant were whether he was afforded procedural fairness, and whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain the agency’s charges. The appellant also questioned the inference that his removal would promote the efficiency of the service. The court ignored the appellant’s primary questions and concerned itself with the issue of whether the appellant’s presumed homosexual advance and personality traits constituted such cause for removal as would promote the efficiency of the service….”
(“Federal Employment of Homosexuals: Narrowing the Efficiency Standard;” Catholic University Law Review, 19 Cath. U. L. Rev. 267 (1970)) [emphasis mine]

Ideally, I suppose the administrator of NASA would have known each employee and been fully aware of why a particular employee was hired or fired. And been able to successfully defy both civil service policy as it was in 1963, and Congressional attitudes.

I don’t know how many folks worked for NASA at the time. This year’s headcount was 17,960; in 1963 the Space Race was in progress, so I’d be surprised if NASA staff was much smaller back then.

Maybe James Webb knew all about C. J. Norton’s firing, and either couldn’t or wouldn’t defy the United States Civil Service Commission and Congress to keep the GS-14 budget analyst at NASA.

Or maybe details regarding the discharge of a GS-14 budget analyst didn’t make it all the way to the top administrator’s desk.

NASA’s recent statement may end the ‘erase James Webb’ efforts.

But if enough proper people embrace the “no smoke without fire” attitude,4 this could go on for years.

Free to Agree With Me — Then and Now

Walt Kelly's Deacon Mushrat and Simple J. Malarkey. (1953)Who’s proper and who’s not has changed since my youth.

In some ways, but not in others.

During my youth, America’s self-described defenders of freedom and liberty, some of them, were coming to grips with the idea that commies might not be lurking behind every door.

But I still suspect that many couldn’t quite wrap their minds around the notion that freedom of expression should extend to folks they didn’t agree with.

'I'd force peace right down their bloodthirsty throats.' Deacon Mushrat in Walt Kelly's Pogo. (1952)That was “the establishment” of my youth.

They stalwartly eroded whatever confidence they’d earned, and lost their positions of influence and authority.

Today’s self-described defenders of freedom and liberty, those who have risen to positions of influence and authority since my youth, warn against different fearsome foes.

But I don’t see much difference where it comes to feeling that freedom of expression should extend to folks who disagree with them. Or recognizing that “moral panic” isn’t just something that happens to those with unsanctioned views.5

The ‘good old days’ aren’t something I miss. During my youth, I wasn’t any more on the same page as the powers that be than I am today.

And that reminds me of a few points I haven’t talked about lately. And some that I have.

Authority, Love, and Neighbors

Jraytram's photo: crepuscular rays in Saint Peter's basilica. (July 2008)Growing up in the 1960s left me with an attitude: several attitudes, actually.

Among them was the notion that I had little regard for authority.

That attitude hasn’t changed, but how I understand it has. Some time ago, my wife told me that I had no problem with authority: legitimate authority.

She was right. I willingly respect authority. It’s pompous nitwits with delusions of legitimate authority that bother me.

Since I’m now a Catholic, respecting authority is important. So is using my brain. Here’s where it gets tricky.

Catholics can work with any political system; as long as the local regime supports the common good, and citizens are okay with how their country’s authorities act. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1897-1917, 1901, 1905-1912; “Gaudium et spes,” 28, 42, Pope Saint Paul VI (December 7, 1965))

Part of my job is working with secular authorities. Usually. Some things aren’t an option for me: like doing something bad, but with good intentions. And, like it or not, some actions are always bad ideas. (Catechism, 1750-1756, 1789, 2238-2246)

I’m being vague. I’ll explain why later.

Respect for competent authority is a good idea. Blind obedience isn’t. (Catechism, 1900, 1951, 2155, 2242-2243, 2267)

And I should love God, love my neighbor, and see everybody as my neighbor. (Matthew 5:43–44, 22:36–40; Mark 12:28–31; Luke 6:31, 10:25–37; Catechism, 1789)

I say that a lot.

So, if loving my neighbor is important, how come I don’t agree with everything my neighbor says?

A few reasons. First, everybody’s my neighbor. Second, some of my neighbors profoundly don’t agree with other neighbors. Finally, for now,”love” isn’t “approval.” And that last is a topic that deserves more time than I’ve got this week.

Changing Fashions in Denunciation

Scott Adam's 'Dilbert' strip: Dogbert's Good News Show. ('We'll all die!')I’d prefer living in a country where I hadn’t grown up hearing radio preachers denouncing communism and Catholicism. When they weren’t shilling the latest End Times Bible Prophecy.

Time passed. Mores and manners changed. Human nature, not so much.

I’m not fond of today’s denunciations of alleged bigots and ‘raging homophobes,’ either. An up side in the James Webb case is that he’s dead, and so his career isn’t threatened.

By the same token, I can’t yearn for the days when ranting against homosexuals and/or communists was fashionable.

Not reasonably. That’s partly because I’m not normal. I’ve talked about this before.

Eccentric, Nerd, Geek, Oddball: Take Your Pick

Brian H. Gill. (March 17, 2021)One of my daughters, having been asked to describe me in three words, said that I’m eccentric, scholarly and eclectic. The second term might have been “academic,” or something of the sort.

My eccentricity may or may not be occasionally entertaining: depending on who’s opinion is in play.

But it didn’t help me get jobs, not the sort that were available back in the 1970s.

Being one of the 99-plus of a hundred or so applicants who didn’t get the job each time didn’t help, either.

At any rate, a job counselor I’d been working with asked me if I was homosexual. In context, the question made sense. During the 1970s in the Upper Midwest, at any rate. Bias against homosexuals was real enough to make — I think it was still called affirmative action — an option.

And I fit the profile. I’m male, creative, articulate and not obsessed with sports.

Some four decades later, I’m not sure about “articulate” being the word used. But talking as if I had some smarts was part of the reason I fit the homosexual profile.

Maybe attitudes have shifted, and men needn’t dial their brains back in order to fit the ‘regular guy’ mold.

About my opportunity to jump-start a career, I didn’t qualify. I’m not homosexual, which is no great virtue. I’ve got issues, lots of issues: but not that particular one.

The job counselor’s question did, however, help explain a few otherwise-puzzling interactions I’d had with nice, normal folks.

Living in a Changing America

EPA's photo: 'Two of the spas were across the road from each other in Atlanta.' From BBC News article, 'Atlanta shootings: Suspect charged with murder as victims identified' (March 18, 2021) used w/o permission.Some Americans have been imprisoned for having the ‘wrong’ ancestors, and faith-based mass murders happen.

But I don’t think the Presidency should be abolished, and I don’t see a point in labeling religious people as enemies of the state.

And, knowing a bit about Executive Order 9066, the execution of Father James Coyle, and recent mass murders: I realize that distinguishing between deadly threats to America and folks who simply aren’t quite the right sort can be difficult.

So, not surprisingly, is spotting and stopping mass murderers before they kill.

Father James Coyle’s death, by the way, was classified as murder even at the time. Although an understanding court didn’t convict the regular American who performed the private-sector execution.

Father Coyle’s crime had been performing a marriage between the son of a decent American family and a Puerto Rican woman. This was in 1921.6

I really don’t miss the ‘good old days.’

Respect, Compassion and Making Sense

Leonard G.'s photo: 'California Academy of Sciences beyond the Concourse plaza, in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California.' Taken from the de Young Museum's tower. (August 28, 2008) via Wikipedia, used w/o permission.America has changed in the century since Father Coyle’s death.

Much of that change happened during the half-century since my youth.

Some, I think, has been change for the better. Some hasn’t.

But human nature hasn’t changed. Certainly not in the few millennia since we started keeping records. Not as far as I can tell.

How much of that’s good news, and how much is not-so-good news, is a topic I’ll leave for another time.

Today, I’ll explain why I’m not on the ‘defame James Webb’ bandwagon. And why I’m not shrieking epithets at the anti-anti-LGBTQ+ folks.

Maybe “LGBTQ+” offends someone. If so, sorry about that. It’s the alphabet soup label NASA used, and is close to some similar terms. My intent is communication, not offense.

Anyway, I’m a Catholic. So I think human sexuality is a good thing. Basically. And that sexual actions, like anything else we do, involve ethical standards. (Catechism, 2331-2391)

I also think everyone deserves respect and reasoned compassion, not unjust discrimination. And that homosexual acts are a bad idea. (Catechism, 2357-2359)

“The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.”
(Catechism, 2358)

That’s homosexual acts: not experiencing such urges.

I deal with different temptations, and see no point in lashing out at folks because they’re not just like me.

I do, however, think that love is a good idea. So is acting like love matters.

Now, a quick explanation for why I’m not talking about exciting data from the James Webb Space Telescope.

Exoplanets and a Blood Test

NASA, ESA, CSA, L. Hustak (STScI)'s illustration of the JWST Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Team's data: 'A series of light curves from Webb's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) shows the change in brightness of three different wavelengths (colors) of light from the WASP-39 star system over time as the planet transited the star July 10, 2022'
Transit of WASP-39 b. (July 10, 2022)

I’d been looking up what we’re learning about WASP-39 b and another exoplanet that’s about as dense as a marshmallow, when I ran into discussions of why the James Webb Space Telescope’s name was naughty.

That distracted me, and was a reminder that it had been some time since I talked about why I think respect makes sense. And why I’m not on neither the alphabet-soup-sexuality bandwagon, nor in the anti-alphabet-soup camp.

Now, in an abundance of caution, a sensitive-content warning. I’ll be talking about health.

A routine blood test’s results, earlier this week, led to a second blood test. That both took time, and didn’t help me concentrate on looking up nerdy details.

Happily, my potassium level has gone down a bit since earlier this week. And it hadn’t gotten to ‘immediate treatment needed’ levels. I’ll be talking to a doctor about it next week.

So that’s why I’ve put off what we’re learning about WASP-39 b and TOI-3757 b until next week: assuming I don’t get distracted again.

Finally, the usual links:

  • “James Webb Space Telescope Early Results“
    (Rings, Spokes and Explanations
    A Galaxy of a Different Color
    Mid-Infrared: Cool
    Astrophotos: More Than Pretty Pictures
    The Cartwheel Galaxy Group as We Might See It)
    (August 6, 2022)
  • “Taking People, Pride and Dignity Seriously: June 2022“
    (Dignity, Good Intentions and Bad Ideas
    Acting Like Love Matters: A Good Idea
    Not Easy, But a Good Idea
    Odd Urges and Malignant Virtue
    “Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity” — Makes Sense to Me)
    (June 11, 2022)
  • “I’m Not as Crazy as You Think I Moose!“
    (Looking Forward to Judgment Day?
    The Last Judgment’s Go Time, Doomsayers: and Something from Sirach
    I’m Not Normal: ADHD And All That
    Depression and Something I Don’t Remember
    Taking my Medicine)
    (April 9, 2022)
  • “Evolution: Science, Religion, Opinions and Me“
    (Politics and Perceptions
    “…Truth will be Truth….”
    Taking the Bible Seriously
    Ideology, Evolution and Demographics
    Seeking Knowledge, Appreciating God’s Work)
    (August 28, 2021)
  • “Atlanta Spa Shootings: Remembering Dignity“
    (First Assumption: Hate Crime
    Second Assumption: False Flag
    Close Encounters of the Conspiracy Kind
    Next Stop: Florida?
    Love, Respect: and Really Bad Ideas)
    (March 18, 2021)

1 Science stuff:

2 A name, a label and opinions:

3 🎵 “Those were the days, my friend; we thought they’d never end” — and then they did:

4 Remembering McCarthyism and the 1960s:

5 Two phrases:

6 People behaving badly:

Posted in Being Catholic, Discursive Detours, Journal | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Georgia O’Keefe, a Light, the Moon and a Steeple

Posted on November 26, 2022 by Brian H. Gill

Georgia O'Keeffe's 'New York Street with Moon.' (1925) Oil on canvas. 122 x 77 cm. Carmen Thyssen Collection, Inv. no. (CTB.1981.76), Room J, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza Madrid.Georgia O’Keefe painted “New York Street with Moon” on 47th Street in Manhattan.

That’s been what art critics, scholars and reporters have been saying for decades.

Except for one, in an article in Sky and Telescope’s most recent issue.

Astrophysicist and forensic astronomer at the Texas State University Donald W. Olson says that he got together with some colleagues and found evidence that Georgia O’Keefe’s painted “New York City with Moon” at the corner of Vanderbilt and 48th Street East.1

And that the scene is what she saw on the night of January 9th, 1925. After having been filtered through the artist’s imagination and her Precisionist style.

So how come folks in the art field say the painting shows a scene on 47th Street?

For one thing, that’s what Georgia O’Keefe wrote in 1976, a half-century later:

“…I began talking about trying to paint New York. Of course, I was told that it was an impossible idea — even the men hadn’t done too well with it. From my teens on I had been told that I had crazy notions so I was accustomed to disagreement and went on with my idea of painting New York.

“My first painting was a night scene of 47th Street, ‘New York with Moon.’ There was a street light in the upper foreground at about the Chatham Hotel … five of us [five painters, along with two photographers] had a group show on the top floor of the Anderson Galleries. My large flowers were shown for the first time. At the end of the hall just outside the door of the elevator to go toward the show. But the ‘New York’ wasn’t hung — much to my disappointment.

“The next year Stieglitz had a small corner room at the Anderson Galleries. There were three large windows. As you entered you saw my first ‘New York’ between two windows … My large ‘New York’ was sold the first afternoon. No one ever objected to my painting New York after that.”
(“Georgia O’Keeffe,” Georgia O’Keeffe, 1976: text accompanying catalogues 17 and 18. Via Sky and Telescope (January 2023 issue) [emphasis mine])

There’s a lot going on there, but today I’ll stick mostly to the ‘Case of the New York Moon’s Street’ mystery.

‘You Can’t Paint New York City?!’

Map segment from Bromley's 'Land Book of the Borough of Manhattan' for 1927. Hotel Chatham and Collegiate Church of Saint Nicholas highlighted. From Sky And Telescope (January 2023 issue)
Hotel Chatham and Colegiate Church of St. Nicholas on East 48th, New York City. (1927)

Vintage postcard showing Hotel Chatham and Collegiate Church of Saint Nicholas and a Bishop's Crook lamppost at the hotel's street corner. From Sky And Telescope (January 2023 issue)O’Keeffe’s painting isn’t photorealistic.

But her version of the Precisionism style gave us several identifiable objects: a Bishop’s Crook lamppost, the moon, clouds and a church steeple.

The pattern and opacity of the clouds suggests that they’re the altocumulus variety: according to Olson, at least, and I think he’s right.

The moon is riding high in the sky, which it would in the winter.

We know that O’Keeffe painted “New York Street with Moon” before Alfred Stieglitz’s Seven Americans exhibition

That exhibition had opened at Manhattan’s Anderson Galleries on March 9, 1925; and hadn’t included “New York Street….”

Normally, a painting’s absence from an exhibition wouldn’t be proof that it existed. But in this case, I gather that O’Keeffe left us written records of her frustration at its absence.

And that she’d wanted “New York Street…” included, but her husband didn’t.

Because at the time, everybody knew that nobody could paint New York City. Anyway, men artists had said nobody could paint New York City and if they couldn’t, a woman artist certainly couldn’t.

I know.

But let’s remember: this was 1925. “Roaring Twenties” or not, Western culture in general and American culture in particular were on very steep learning curves.2

‘She’s smart as a man’ was still supposed to be a compliment in my youth, and that’s another topic.

The good news, as I see it, was that O’Keeffe could not only get that scene painted; but convince the guys that showing it was okay. And only a year after her husband balked.

Now, back to the ‘Case of the New York Street and Moon’ mystery.

A Street Corner That’s Not There Any More

Google Street View's look at Manhattan's East 48th Street, near where the corner of 48th and Vanderbilt used to be. (November 24, 2022) via Google Street View, used w/o permission.
New York City’s East 48th, near where Vanderbilt Avenue used to be. (November 2022)

O’Keeffe said her painting showed “…a street light in the upper foreground at about the Chatham Hotel.” And she’d included enough detail to show it was one of New York City’s Bishop’s Crook designs, intended for narrow streets.

She’d also said, a half-century after creating “New York Street With Moon,” that she’d been on 47th street.

Just one problem with that. The Hotel Chatham was on East 48th Street, not East 47th. And there wasn’t a church with a steeple like the one she’d painted down the street from the Chatham.

There had, however, been one on East 48th: the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas.

It’s not there any more, and neither is the 48th Street Hotel Chatham.

Hotel Chathams, on the other hand, seem to be alive and well and pretty much everywhere folks want to spend money.

The St. Nicholas church had been built between 1869 and 1872, and wasn’t torn down until 1949. The church had been known for “its towering 265-foot-high steeple.”3

Remembering Details, Some Details

An image from Brian H. Gill's brain scans in 2018.A photo of the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas is a pretty good match for one O’Keeffe’s painted: the spire, that is.

Olson put a great deal more detail into his Sky and Telescope article. Including weather reports for late 1924 and early 1925: which, combined with information from published O’Keeffe correspondence, narrows the painting’s inspiration down to the night of one full moon.

According to Olson, that is. I expect that art experts, scholars and fans will either look at the data he’s presented: or not.

Meanwhile, I’m hoping that the magazine will add his “The Night Skies of Georgia O’Keeffe” to their website: but the article’s in their current issue, and I’m drifting off-topic again.

Bottom line? I think Georgia O’Keeffe remembered the building and street light that had been front and center when she began painting “New York City with Moon.” And that at the time she wasn’t obsessing over street numbers.

That she got the street number almost right — off by only one integer — a half-century later: that’s doing pretty well.

Bear in mind that I’m an artist, too; albeit an amateur, unless you count doing promotional graphic design.

And remembering whether the Foshay Tower was at the corner of Marquette and 9th or Marquette and 10th4 when I took a photo of it in 1971? I’d be lucky to remember the Marquette Avenue part.

Finally, finally about the painting that is, my oldest daughter’s observation suggests that “New York City with Moon” made a lasting impact on our culture. Pop culture, at any rate:

“Looks a lot like the art style for Batman: The Animated Series’s opening credits.”
(N. M. Gill, during chat on Discord. (November 24, 2022))

Bishop’s Crook Street Lights? Bishops Crook Street Lights?
Google Street View's look at Manhattan's East 48th Street, near where the corner of 48th and Vanderbilt used to be. (November 24, 2022) via Google Street View, used w/o permission.
A Bishop’s Crook street light in New York City.

I virtually visited East 48th Street and Vanderbilt Avenue in New York City this week, using Google Maps.

Seems that Vanderbilt Avenue doesn’t cross East 48th any more. I suppose the folks in charge decided that getting more room for buildings was more important that keeping that particular section of street open.

But Bishop’s Crook street lights are back in New York City:

The Bishops Crook was the first of a number of decorative street lights to be introduced as early as 1900 on narrow city streets. Bracket versions of the Bishops Crook were also attached to the facades of buildings. The reproduction of the Bishops Crook was introduced in 1980 at Madison Avenue and 50th Street outside the Helmsley Palace Hotel (now the New York Palace Hotel).
(Bishops Crook Pole, New York City Street Design Manual)

Bishop’s Crook street lights, the name comes from their resemblance to a Bishop’s crosier, aren’t unique to New York City.

I found mentions of their use in University of Georgia and University of Vermont archives. And learned that New York City’s new ones have LEDs.5

There’s probably more Bishop’s Crook street light lore out there. Maybe you can find it.

I don’t know why Olson used the possessive form, Bishop’s Crook; and New York City’s Street Design Manual uses the plural, Bishops Crook. Or, for that matter, whether or not that’s something worth the time it’d take to get an answer.

Brian H. Gill. (2021)I’ve been distracted this week, so instead of wandering off into the stories of 20th century American art, why I don’t miss the ‘good old days,’ and discussions of street lighting from assorted viewpoints — I’ll admit to myself that I’ve run out of time.

And, of course, add the usual links to more stuff; starting with what I’ve written.

And, not-so-usually, show a selection of headings in my posts. That way, you can guess what they’ll be about.

That’s the idea, at any rate:

1 An astronomer, an artist, a painting and a magazine:

2 Clouds and an American era:

3 Remembering New York City:

  • “The Night Skies of Georgia O’Keeffe”
    Donald W. Olson, Sky and Telescope (January 2023 issue)
  • (“Manhattan Churches”
    Richard Panchyk (2016) (quoted in Olson’s “The Night Skies of Georgia O’Keeffe,” Sky and Telescope (January 2023 issue))

4 Details, details:

5 Street lights, mostly:

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Thanksgiving and Two Turkeys: A Continuing Tale

Posted on November 24, 2022 by Brian H. Gill
Brian H. Gill's 'We'll Fly Like the Wind.' (2022)

It’s Thanksgiving Day, here in America. This year I’ll be talking about the Two Turkeys: and reviewing their last few years.

Well, I hope these aren’t their last few years. Let’s say their most recent years.

Yes, that’s much better.

2010: The Saga Begins

Brian H. Gill's 'You'll Never Take Us Alive!' (2010)The Two Turkeys began their epic struggle with these defiant words: “You’ll never take us alive!”

The year was 2010.

The month was November, shortly before Thanksgiving.

The place: unknown, possibly a turkey farm in the vicinity of Loonfoot Falls: a legendary, and imaginary, town based very loosely on Fergus Falls, Sauk Centre and other central Minnesota towns.

That’s very loosely. In addition to possibly being near the origin point of two talking turkeys, I’ve discovered that Loonfoot Falls is home to Apathetic Lemming of the North. I’ll refer to him as ALN hereafter. For today, at least.

One of these days, I may find and organize every snapshot featuring the Two Turkeys.

But today all I managed to find were those from 2015 to the present, and their enigmatic original image. Sounds cool, describing it that way, doesn’t it? 😉

2015: The Two Turkeys and Organic Soy Husks

Brian H. Gill's 'Please Stop Humming.' (2015)

This picture hasn’t appeared before in A Catholic Citizen in America. This was their last effort to convince the American public that products like Rainbow Acres Organic Soy Husks would make the holidays better for everyone.

2016: Two Troubled Turkeys

Brian H. Gill's 'We Survived Thanksgiving. Right?' (2016)

I’m still not sure what happened, or where the Two Turkeys ended up.

2017: Traveling on the Halloween Express

Brian H. Gill's 'On the Halloween Express.' (2017)

I’m also not sure how, when or where they boarded the Halloween Express. My guess is that it was shortly after 2017’s Halloween.

2017: The Two Turkeys Arrive in Loonfoot Falls
Brian H. Gill's 'He Wants to Know.' (2017)

ALN’s question is, I think, reasonable. Particularly considering that he apparently agreed to shelter the Two Turkeys, at least for the 2017 Thanksgiving season.

2021: A Slip of the Tongue

Brian H. Gill's 'Thanks But I'm Stuf-.' (2021)

For all I know, the Two Turkeys have been staying with ALN since 2017.

One of the them seems blissfully unaware of their peril. He’s nowhere near as serious as his counterpart, at least. Which very likely explains the other Turkey’s occasional expressions of exasperation.

Try saying that five times, fast!

2022: Up, Up and Away in a Turkey-Filled Balloon

Brian H. Gill's 'We'll Fly Like the Wind' half-size. (2022)And that brings me up to this year’s Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday season.

How the Two Turkeys got in that balloon, and where they’ll land, I have no idea.

But I’m back on track with Thanksgiving pictures and the Two Turkeys. And glad to be there. Or should that be glad to be here? At any rate —

That gap, from 2018 to 2020, wasn’t the most creative or pleasant period of my life; possibly due in part to pandemic angst.

(Almost) finally, a word about ALN. Apathetic Lemming of the North was the mascot for a blog of the same name, back when I was using Blogger as my hosting service. He’s that anthropomorphic oversize ‘lemming’ in the 2017 and 2020 Two Turkeys pictures.

I’ve been thinking about bringing him back in some capacity for A Catholic Citizen in America, but haven’t gotten past the ‘this sounds like fun’ stage.

And (really) finally, the usual links to more stuff. This time with a short(ish) description of each post:

And one of my old blogs (January 2011 – May 2016)

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