[HN Gopher] The First Map of the Moon
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       The First Map of the Moon
        
       Author : benbreen
       Score  : 38 points
       Date   : 2023-07-27 06:15 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.historytoday.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.historytoday.com)
        
       | labratmatt wrote:
       | Some beautiful lunar sketches (from Selenographia) can be found
       | here too https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/17th-
       | century-a...
        
       | earthicus wrote:
       | It's amazing how far we've come in a few centuries. From
       | sketching a few visible features with the help of a telescope, to
       | mapping out the microscopic variations in the moons gravitational
       | field[1] with robot satellites!
       | 
       | [1]
       | https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/grail/multimedia/latest-i...
        
       | avmich wrote:
       | The history of the first map of the other half of the Moon is no
       | less dramatic. Actually, the very first image of the back side of
       | the Moon was destroyed immediately after creation.
        
         | mzi wrote:
         | Can you give sources to this? I find nothing written in the
         | wiki [1] article of Luna 3
         | 
         | [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_3
        
           | avmich wrote:
           | https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/635963main_RocketsPeopleVolume2-ebo.
           | ..
           | 
           | I joined Boguslavskiy by the device that recorded directly
           | onto electrochemical paper. A report was coming in from the
           | receiving center: "Range--50,000. Signal stable. We have
           | reception!"
           | 
           | They gave the command to reproduce the image. Again it was up
           | to the FTU. On the paper, line by line a gray image was
           | emerging. It was a circle on which you could distinguish
           | details if you had a sufficiently active imagination. Korolev
           | couldn't stand it and burst in on us in the cramped room.
           | 
           | "Well, what have you got there?
           | 
           | "We have determined that the Moon is round," I replied.
           | 
           | Boguslavskiy pulled the paper with the recorded image out of
           | the machine, showed it to Korolev, and calmly tore it up.
           | S.P. didn't even lose his temper.
           | 
           | "Why so soon, Yevgeniy Yakovlevich? After all, this is the
           | first, you see, the first!"
           | 
           | "It's bad. All sorts of junk. We'll clean up the interference
           | and the next frames will come out right."
           | 
           | Gradually, one after the other the frames appeared more and
           | more distinctly. We cheered and congratulated one another.
           | Boguslavskiy assured us that everything would be much better
           | on the film we would develop in Moscow. Already quite late,
           | after parting with our fellow participants in the "campaign"
           | on Mount Koshka, we departed once again for "our health
           | resort." This time Korolev allowed Ostashev to ride with us.
           | I shared a luxurious suite with him. At supper the ban was
           | lifted on the consumption of wines from the government wine
           | cellars.
        
             | jareklupinski wrote:
             | there's too many "government cover-up" movie plots that
             | start the same way
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-07-28 23:02 UTC)