JSC (AV) - Skylab 4 - IVA Telecast - TV 77 / Close-up of Carr Plotting on Earth Surface Chart / Crew Day Off Activities - TV 81-5 Part 6

Description

FR#A213 SKYLAB 4 KINESCOPE Welcome to Skylab 3. In looking out one of the Command Module windows at the outside of the Apollo Telescope Mount, a series of solar telescopes we've used to observe the sun, and we feel SO far (garble) Over the next couple of weeks we plan to turn this instrument on something new. We're going to be looking at the Comet Kohoutek. The Comet itself is a visitor most likely from the outer reaches of our solar system = cold, lifeless chunk of matter, which when it gets close to the sun (garble) break apart. Another intriguing possibility is that it's really from outside our solar system and we may actually have a visitor from the regions between the stars. One thing we hope to learn (garble) comets in general, and this one in particular, is just how was our solar system put together, how was it formed, what is the origin of the earth, the planets, and the comets which move around at very (garble) orbits, way outside the orbit of the earth. For the same reason, we wanted to study the moon. We are studying the comet now - that is, we hope to find out just what is the original matter of the solar system - we call it primordal matter. (garble) we got back to 2½ to 3 million years. In studying our comet, we hope to go back to 4½ billion (million?) years, the origin of the solar system. With benefit of this, we may (garble) put together, what lies beneath its surface, how it formed - we hope to interpret this (garble). In studying the comet itself, what is it made of - are they mostly atoms, hydrogen, helium? Oxygen? And the other prime atoms? Used to make up most of our solar system - there are also molecules. Are there actually very complex molecules? Just how hot does the comet get, especially in speeding (garble) toward the sun, how did it change, how does it affect the environment of the sun itself, the corona, that region which you can see during an eclipse, the effect of the sun on the comet, and in turn, the comet on the sun (garble) learn a great deal about both. We'll bring your view inside now and look at the control for the Apollo Telescope Mount and discuss this instrument in a little more detail. Okay, what I'm going to try to do today is show you a little bit about what we know - tell you a little bit about what we know about the and what we hope to look at today. We hope to have a couple of opportunities to see the and to see some of the plankton blooming that indicates to us that the current is there, and we are going to especially look at the A213 Page 2 confluence of the currents and the south equatorial currents as they come together just to the east and southeast of Buenos Aires and Montededao. VIDEO Now this is what our orbit is going to look like. Now we're going to have two opportunities to look at this - the first pass, we're going to be coming down through here across the southern tip ofSouth America and our sight angle or look angle is going to be off to the south or southeast - this area here. So, we expect to be able to see the Cape (?) area, the Straits of Magellan, the Faulkand Islands, and the currents. Now our next pass, which will be about an hour and three quarters later will follow this route right here, and we'll come up a little more inland, and we'll be looking down in this direction again, looking to the southeast - so you see we're going to have two whacks at it. We'll look at it once here and once here. Now let me show you in a little more detail just what it is we're interest in here. Of primary interest for our observations today is the Faulkland Current, and this is the Faulkland Current right here. Now what we have is the west wind drift - we have this very slow current that moves well down in the south - south of the southern tip of South America. Now these again are the Faulkland Islands - here's the Straits of Magellan our first run is going to be up this way - we'll be able to see this area out here and our next run will be more up in this direction, and we should be able to see out in this area where we have the confluence. Now here we have the south equatorial currents. Now its rotating in this direction up north of this area. We have the west wind drift this way, and then you have this little area here where the west wind drift area is trapped in this narrowing area called the Faulkland current - these being the Faulkland Islands. Now you're inclined to have a heady pattern that forms behind the Faulkland Islands here, and also where the Faulkland current meets the south equatorial current, we end up with an "eddie" (?) pattern right here, and you can see the plankton blooming, moving out to the southeast. All along this area here, we can see the plankton blooming very, very clearly. The plankton is a nice, light yellow, sort of an aquamarine color, not like yellow, I mean like green, more of an aquamarine color. The south equatorial current, on the other hand, there seems to be a little darker green. The ocean itself in this area is a nice deep blue color, so let me quickly recap here - we're going to make one pass here where you should be able to see this area, and later on in the day, we'll make another pass up here, and this is Buenes Aires, this is Montevidao, this is the Rio de la Plata - mouth of the Rio de la Plata A213 Page 3 mouth and its right opposite this area where these two currents come together, and hopefully later on today, we'll get a good look at this area of confluence of these two currents. Now another area that is of interest to us in this study, not in the current the study of the Faulkton current, but in the area of the humble current over on this side of the south American continent, is the fact that as this current moves through all these little islands and inlets over here, you get very high velocities and strong currents between these little islands. The water here is very deep and very much like the Fjords up in Scandinavia, and some people feel that maybe the fast currents that are going through these islands of the humble current which comes up this way and gets trapped amonst these islands - that possibly the fast-moving water in here could be hardest, and that energy could be used for something like electricity. Okay, the next thing you will be seeing will be observations out the S190 window, which is the earth resources window which looks straight down, and the first one will be 10:20 in the morning, central standard time, and then later about noon. See you then. Okay, as we come up the eastern coast of South America, it's getting pretty cloudy. Way down there in the center of your screen is the southernmost tip of South America, and the Straits of Magellan. Okay, now as we move up here into this area of clouds, there's a few patches through which we can see some of the green, light green blooming of Faulkton currents. Now, I'm going to you can see the current now flowing in the center of the screen out to about the 9:00 o'clock position. I'm going to reach around and stick my finger in the lens, or a pencil, I don't know it it's going to be focused well enough to show it to you, but right there is the Faulkland current. See that chloro- phyll blooming? Now what we're seeing is the current as it moves in toward the Faulkland Islands there we go, look at the serpentine shape of the current, the eddies that are caused there., now let me look for a little bit, this eddy that we've been looking at is what comes in around the Faulkland Islands and moves up to the northeast toward Argentina, toward the area of Montevidao. If we look way back here, you can see just beyond our antenna, you can see more of the Faulkland current, the blooming there that's going parallel there, you notice it's straightened up, there's not any eddy in it, it's moving up toward the city of Montevidao, Buenos Aires. Okay, we're going to terminate for now.

Collection

Records of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Series

Moving Images Relating to Documentary Stock Footage