Star Trek: The Search for the First Alleged Crab Supernova Rock Art

The distant past: A previous frontier...
These are the voyages of Dr. E.C. Krupp:
His long-term mission...
To seek out new rock art and new exploded stars...
To go where cave man has gone before!

Since the 1950s, star/crescent combinations in prehistoric rock art in the American Southwest have become broadly accepted as eyewitness records of the Crab supernova explosion, a spectacular event visible in 1054 A.D. As this interpretation became more fashionable, Griffith Observatory Director Dr. E.C. Krupp began a long-term effort to inspect each of these sites in person. His field work eventually led him, in 2008, to the two sites in northern Arizona that started this cottage industry in supernova rock art, sites that had been lost and had not been revisited for 50 years. In this program, Dr. Krupp will survey the best known star/crescent sites, describe his efforts to reach them, and report his results.

E.C. Krupp

Dr. E.C. Krupp is an astronomer and Director of Griffith Observatory, which is owned and operated by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. He recently led Griffith Observatory's $93-million renovation and expansion. He majored in physics and astronomy as an undergraduate at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He began working at

Griffith Observatory in 1970 as a part-time Planetarium Lecturer when he was still in graduate school in astronomy at U.C.L.A., where he studied the properties of rich clusters of galaxies with the late Dr. George O. Abell. Since 1973, Dr. Krupp has actively studied ancient, prehistoric, and traditional astronomy worldwide. He has visited more than 2000 ancient and prehistoric sites throughout the world and has recently returned from an expedition to Peru, where he observed the June solstice at Chankillo, the oldest observatory in the New World, and also just returned from Denmark and Sweden, where he visited the remains of Tycho Brahe's observatory on the island of Hven. He has published five books

on ancient astronomy, four astronomy children's books, dozens of research papers, and hundreds of articles for the general reader. One area of his research is the astronomical connotations of rock art in California and the Southwest.

"What's Up?" in this month will be presented by TBA

Monthly General Meeting

The OCA has a general meeting held on the second Friday of every month* at Chapman University.

These meetings are free and open to the general public.

The meetings take place in The Irvine Lecture Hall with seating for approximately 250 people.

The Irvine Lecture Hall (located adjacent to the Hashinger Science Center) is near the south east corner of the campus
and the nearest cross street is East Palm Ave and North Center Street.

7:00 PM - 7:30 PM Pre-meeting Slide Show

Arrival of audience. This presentation includes recent astronomical photographs taken by OCA members.

7:30 PM - 7:45 PM Club Announcements
Usually presented by the OCA Secretary, Bob Buchheim.

7:45 PM - 8:15 PM "What's Up?"
Usually presented by OCA Member and Space Artist, Chris Butler.

8:15 PM - 9:15 PM Main Talk
Speakers are often from JPL/Caltech and other major educational and astronomical institutions.
The level of the talks are usually appropriate for anyone who has an interest in this hobby.

9:15 PM - 9:30 PM Refreshments
Break Donuts, coffee, soda are available for a small donation.

9:30 PM - 10:00 PM "Ask an Astronomer"
Anyone can stay behind and ask a panel of experts any burning question related to this hobby.