Thomas Ashcraft

American scientist, scientific instrument-maker, and artist

Thomas Ashcraft (born 1951, Springfield, Illinois)^[1] is an American astronomer, naturalist, scientific instrument-maker, and artist.^[2] He is known for his observations of transient luminous events (lightning sprites),^[3] meteoric fireballs,^[4] solar radio and optical phenomena,^[5] and Jupiter radio emissions.^[6]

He is an artist and citizen scientist whose work, Heliotown II, is on exhibit in the old pool house located on the Hyde Park campus of at the Santa Fe Institute.^[7] He resides and maintains a laboratory and studio west of Villanueva, New Mexico^[8] where he operates the Observatory of Heliotown.^[9] Research-grade images, audio, and video captured at the observatory have been featured on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day blog.^[10]^[11]

Science practice

In 1992, Ashcraft built the Fast Drift Burst Observatory, also called the Radio Fireball Observatory,^[12] for monitoring and recording fireballs, space dust, and meteoric phenomena. He has made numerous innovations in the merging of optical and radio telescope technology.^[13] In 2001, he began observing Jupiter, the sun, and ionospheric phenomena with NASA's Radio Jove Project.^[14]

In 2009, Ashcraft began noting lightning-generated phenomena called transient luminous events (red sprites)^[15] on his radio-optical telescope systems. Over time he has established a multi-faceted observatory devoted to the capture and study of this rarely imaged phenomenon.^[16]

Art practice

Ashcraft is primarily a sculptor and installation artist incorporating space, time, mind, sound, and electricity.^[17] He is also a figurative sculptor exploring biological subjects such bacteriophages, viruses, microbes, and medicinal plants.^[18] He was awarded a Louis Comfort Tiffany Prize^[19] in art in 2005.

Selected publications

Papers

Gaopeng Lu, Steven A. Cummer, Jingbo Li, Lucian Zigoneanu, Walter A. Lyons, Mark A. Stanley, William Rison, Paul R. Krehbiel, Harald E. Edens, Ronald J. Thomas, William H. Beasley, Stephanie A. Weiss, Richard J. Blakeslee, Eric C. Bruning, Donald R. MacGorman, Tiffany C. Meyer, Kevin Palivec, Thomas Ashcraft, and Tim Samaras (2013) Coordinated observations of sprites and in-cloud lightning flash structure, American Geophysical Union, JGR Atmospheres
Walter A. Lyons, T.A. Wanrenr, T.J. Lang, W. Rison, S.A. Cummer, M.G. McHarg, T. Ashcraft, K. Paliivec, J. Yue, T.E. Nelson, H.E. Edens, and M.A. Stanley (2015) Video and Photographic Investigations of Lightning and Transient Luminous Events, American Meteorological Society
Timothy J. Lang, Walter A. Lyons, Steven A. Cummer, Brody R. Fuchs, Brenda Dolan, Steven A. Rutledge, Paul Krehbiel, William Rison, Mark Stanley, Thomas Ashcraft (2016) Observations of two sprite-producing storms in Colorado, American Geophysical Union, JGR Atmospheres
David Typinski, Charles Higgins, Richard Flagg, Wes Greenman, Jim Sky, Roger Giuntini, Francisco Reyes, Shing F. Fung, James Brown, Thomas Ashcraft, Larry Dodd, James Thieman, and Leonard Garcia (2020) A Fresh Look at Jovian Decametric Radio Emission Occurrence Probabilities in the CML-Io Phase Plane, American Geophysical Union/NASA conference poster
Shing F. Fung, Todd S. Anderson, Thomas Ashcraft, Wes Greenman, David Typinski, and James Brown (2020) Thunderstorms as Possible HF Radiation Sources of Propagation TeePee Signatures, American Geophysical Union/NASA conference poster

References

^ "Thomas Ashcraft - The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation". The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation. 2022-03-01. Archived from the original on 2022-03-01. Retrieved 2022-07-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ "Thomas Ashcraft | Citizen Scientist / Scientific Instrument Maker / Observer". NASA Solar System Exploration.
^ Blakeslee, Sandra (September 28, 2014). "On the Hunt for a Sprite on a Midsummer's Night". The New York Times.
^ "APOD: 2021 March 15 - Meteor Fireballs in Light and Sound". apod.nasa.gov.
^ "As Sun Flares Up, Sky Watchers Check Microphones". NPR.org.
^ "AGU - iPosterSessions.com". agu2020fallmeeting-agu.ipostersessions.com.
^ "Heliotown ii". Santa Fe Institute. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
^ FastDriftBurst101800
^ Nott, Robert. "Citizen scientist driven by the need to discover". Santa Fe New Mexican.
^ Nemiroff, Robert. "Astronomy Picture of the Day: Meteor Fireballs in Light and Sound". APOD. apod.nasa.gov. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
^ Nemiroff, Robert. "Astronomy Picture of the Day: Sprite Lightning at 100,000 Frames Per Second". APOD. apod.nasa.gov. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
^ Mexican, Staci Matlock The New. "Artist-turned-astronomer tracks the galaxy's glowing, traveling orbs". Santa Fe New Mexican.
^ "How an Astronomical Mystery Was Explained by High-Tech Photography". Gizmodo.
^ "The JOVE Bulletin October 2002 Issue". radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov.
^ "APOD: 2021 January 4 - Sprite Lightning at 100000 Frames Per Second". apod.nasa.gov.
^ Mann, Adam. "Otherworldly Photos Capture Mysterious Phenomena in Upper Atmosphere". Wired – via www.wired.com.
^ "Explorations Of The Invisibles. Freedom & Power In The Electromagnetic • Digicult | Digital Art, Design and Culture". Digicult | Digital Art, Design and Culture. December 5, 2011.
^ says, Corazon Ledesma (March 5, 2020). "Thomas Ashcraft's Hopeful Reminder in Fearful Times".
^ "Thomas Ashcraft". The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation.

External links

Heliotown, Thomas Ashcraft's observatory website
Otherworldly Photos Capture Mysterious Phenomena in Upper Atmosphere, WIRED Science
Audio: DIY Recordings of Awakening Sun, WIRED Science
Observing Lightning from the International SpaceStation, March 23, 2021, NASA ScienceCasts
Listen to a Solar Flare Drown Out Radio Communications Here on Earth, WIRED Science
Biggest Solar X-Ray Flare on Record - X20 - Sound, Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)