Forest Fires As Astronomical Tools

Forest fires are generally seen as fierce, destructive events. We think of the trees lost, and the final, terrified moments of those animals unable to get away. Science has shown, however, that our forests have evolved taking periodic fires into account, and using them. Fires clear out underbrush, for example, opening land for new growth. The seeds of some plants actually need the heat of fire to move from dormancy to active life.

Forest fires can also help astronomers and geologists. A recent fire whipped through a forest in Minnesota and uncovered meteoritic bits that have been traced to the huge impact crater in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. A body smashed into the Earth there nearly two million years ago, and the Minnesota discovery gives us more data on that event.

Our understanding of the bombardment of Earth can be traced to the Apollo program. Scientists preparing for the astronauts' visits to the lunar surface focused on the Moon and its history. From those studies came the understanding that not only had the Moon been pounded, but the Earth had as well. Dr. Eugene Shoemaker was a major force behind that new view, and Shoemaker also argued the Earth would be hit again. He was dramatically aided in that argument when a comet he had co-discovered, Shoemaker-Levy, slammed into Jupiter as Earth watched.

The realization of the danger posed by a future collision with a comet or an asteroid is a benefit from Apollo rarely acknowledged.