National Park Service Turns 100!

National Park Service turns 100!

August 25, 2016 marks the centennial or 100th year of the National Park Service.

The mission of the Park Service is to preserve “ the unimpaired natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.”

Surprisingly, the first National Park was designated in 1872, 44 years before the National Park Service as we know it came into existence in 1916. Yellowstone was the first National Park in the U.S. that was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.

On August 25, 1916 President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill into law to create the National Park Service to oversee the already-established national parks and “such other national parks and reservations of like character as may be hereafter created by Congress.” The NPS was also directed “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

The Science of Moonbows

Dumgoyach, via Wikimedia Commons

With National Moon Day approaching on July 20th and the Anniversary of the Apollo 11’s first landing on the Moon, we felt it appropriate to feature the science of moonbows in this month’s newsletter.

A moonbow is also commonly referred to as a lunar rainbow. A moonbow is a rare natural atmospheric phenomena that occurs when the Moon’s light is reflected and refracted off water droplets in the air.

Moonbows are much fainter than rainbows made by the sun and often appear to be white. This is due to the smaller amount of light reflected from the surface of the moon. The light from the moon is usually too faint to be perceived by the receptors in the human eye, it is difficult for the human eye to discern colors in a moonbow. However, the colors in a moonbow do appear in long exposure photographs.

A bright moon near to its brightest phase known as a full moon is needed in order to have a chance at seeing a moonbow. It must be also be raining opposite the moon, the sky must be dark and the moon must be very low in the sky (about 42º above the horizon). All these put together makes seeing a moonbow very special and rare!

There are some locations around the world where moonbows occur more frequently. Most of these locations tend to have waterfalls, which create layers of mist in the air. Some of these locations include Yosemite National Park in California and Cumberland Falls State Resort Park in Kentucky. Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe and Waimea in Hawaii.

Moonbow at Victoria Falls; By Scolopendra33 via Wikimedia Commons

Moonbow at Lower Yosemite Falls; By Brocken Inaglory via Wikimedia Commons

Moonbow over Kula, Hawaii; By Arne-kaiser via Wikimedia Commons

 

Sources:

http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moonbows.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonbow

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/where-to-catch-a-moonbow

http://fullmoonphases.com/moonbow/