Roger B. Culver

Geophysical Variables and Behavior: XLIX. Moon Mechanisms and Myths: A Critical Appraisal of Explanations of Purported Lunar Effects on Human Behavior

In this paper the explanations put forward by lunar advocates to account for a “lunar effect” on human behavior are critically appraised. The hypotheses considered are ozone, moonlight, gravity, tidal force, geomagnetism, electromagnetism, weather, ions, and ELF waves. It is concluded that none of these are sufficient to explain the alleged effects of the moon on human behavior. In view of (a) the lack of a satisfactory mechanism, (b) the lack of a reliable connection between lunar periodicities and human behavior, and (c) the generally negative results obtained in studies, it is suggested that the scientific community exercise great caution with regard to further studies claiming lunar effects on human behavior.

Optical absorption of surfaces modified by carbon filaments

The reflectivities of modified carbon, silicon, and quartz surfaces have been measured from 1 to 25-microm wavelengths. Surfaces were modified by either bombarding carbon surfaces with ~1000-eV Ar(+) ions or growing carbon filaments on them by catalytic chemical vapor deposition from hydrocarbon/hydrogen mixtures. The surfaces were highly absorbing through most of this wavelength region with most surfaces showing a rise in reflectivity beyond ~15 microm. The reflectivity of one modified Si surface was below 1% throughout the entire wavelength region and may be the most highly absorbing surface yet found.

The frequency of wide binaries among the southern barium stars

All of the barium and marginal barium stars in the 1972 MacConnell, Frey, and Upgren (1972: MFU) list of such objects which are located south of the celestial equator were examined for visual duplicity. Over 200 objects were observed, and a total of six possible candidates for wide pair visual binaries were found. Of these, four are most likely optical in nature. These data suggest that the incidence of wide binaries among barium stars is of the order of 1%.

A search for X-Ray luminous late type stars in NIPSS data

The purpose of this project is to obtain optical identifications of x-ray luminous late type stars. Our approach consists of detecting position coincidences between unidentified x-ray sources and stars for which (V-I) > 3 mag., as obtained from the Near Infrared Photographic Sky Survey (NIPSS) database. Objects with effective temperatures below 3000 K are the most frequent counterparts found by this method at high galactic latitudes (Craine 1987). In this paper we present a derivation of the detection limits of the NIPSS relevant to the lower main sequence dwarf stars. Significantly, M8 or M9 stars with apparent V magnitudes below the detection limit may still appear on the NIPSS I band photographs, where the detection limit is extended to pre-main sequence objects of about 0.03 solar luminosity.

Selected NIPSS-IRAS catalog correlations

The Near Infrared Photographic Sky Survey (NIPSS) and Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) Point Source Catalogs represent potentially complementary databases for a variety of astronomical applications. In order to understand the problems associated with comparing these databases, and to develop a feeling for how these data might be used, we have begun the process of comparing selected NIPSS catalogs with the IRAS Point Source Catalog.

Recent Trigonometric Parallax Measurements of MK Late-Type Spectral Standard Giant Stars

Trigonometric parallaxes are reported for ten bright, southern late-type MK giant stars. The plate material was obtained with the 66 cm Yale-Columbia refractor at the Mt. Stromlo Observatory and measured with the PDS 1010A at Mt. Stromlo. The ten stars include HR 794 (KO III), HR 1247 (M2 IIIab), HR 2245 (M2.5 III), HR 2773 (K3 Ib), HR 3518 (K3 III), HR 3803 (K5 III), HR 5287 (K2 III-IIIb), HR 5603 (M3 IIIa), HR 6832 (M3.5 III), and HR 6913 (K1 IIIb). The modern parallaxes are compared with earlier results and the luminosity calibration for these stars is discussed.