Transcript: April Week 5

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies on Radio Boise. This is the last week of April. We’re your hosts, Paul..

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
Gene Shoemaker would have turned 80 years old last week.

KRIS
Before Shoemaker, most geologists believed that the structures we now know are meteor craters were volcanic in origin.

RACHEL
In some cases, geologists referred to them as crypto-volcanic because they couldn’t quite figure out how a volcano could create such a feature.

KRIS
The reason geologists were hesitant to accept meteor impacts as the source of craters is that the science of geology focused on forces that act gently and over long periods of time.

PAUL
In other words, meteor impacts were too catastrophic for a majority of geologists.

RACHEL
Gene’s PhD work convinced geologists that meteor impacts did happen in the past and that they leave evidence we can observe today.

KRIS
Gene then went on to do moon work for NASA, including preparing to be an Apollo astronaut.

RACHEL

Unfortunately, a medical condition kept him from being the first scientist to walk on the moon.

KRIS
One of the last events Gene is known for is his 1993 discovery of a comet ripped apart by Jupiter’s gravity.

PAUL
Gene made that discovery along with his wife Carolyn and friend David Levy

RACHEL
In 1994, the fragments of Shoemaker-Levy 9 smashed into Jupiter with the energy of thousands to millions of megatons.

KRIS
The fragments came in a variety of sizes, up to 1-1/2 miles across and crashed into the Jovian atmosphere at a speed of 37 miles per second.

PAUL
Amateur astronomers could see the impact sites on Jupiter with their telescopes.

RACHEL
They appeared as brown spots in Jupiter’s atmosphere that were observable for months after the impacts.

KRIS
Gene passed away in 1996 in a car accident while looking for new meteor craters in Australia.

PAUL
May second is Space Day.

RACHEL
Organized by the aerospace company, Lockheed Martin, Space Day is an educational initiative.

KRIS
Lock Mart wants Space Day to educate the public on the achievements, opportunities, and benefits of space exploration.

RACHEL
Some of the benefits of space exploration include the weather satellite images you see on the nightly news and your GPS receiver.

KRIS
It also includes our increased knowledge of the earth’s formation and history.

RACHEL
You can read about Space Day at its website, www.spaceday.org.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the last week of April. Our sound engineer this month was Paul Molinari. Join us next month for the space and astronomy news for Idaho and beyond.

For Idaho Skies this is Paul…

KRIS
..Kris..

RACHEL.. and Rachel.