page_title: Operation Moonwatch
section_title: During the IGY
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Moonwatch / During the IGY
caption_attribution_description: A historical marker placed by the city of Cincinnati and sponsored by the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, giving an account of the Project Moonwatch team that operated there.
context_page_description: Operation Moonwatch was an amateur science program formally initiated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 1956. The SAO organized Moonwatch as part of the International Geophysical Year which was probably the largest single scientific undertaking in history. Its initial goal was to enlist the aid of amateur astronomers and other citizens who would help professional scientists spot the first artificial satellites. Until professionally manned optical tracking stations came on-line in 1958, this network of amateur scientists and other interested citizens played a critical role in providing crucial information regarding the world's first satellites.
context_section_description: Sputnik 1's sudden launch was followed less than a month later with the Soviets orbiting Sputnik 2 and the dog Laika. It was Moonwatch teams, networked around the world, who provided tracking information needed by scientists in Western nations. For the opening months of the Space Age, members of Moonwatch were the only organized worldwide network that was prepared to spot and help track satellites. The information they provided was complemented by the radio tracking program called Minitrack the United States Navy operated as well as some information from amateur radio buffs.
  In many cases, Moonwatch teams also had the responsibility of communicating news of Sputnik and the first American satellites to the public.  The public responded, in turn, with infectious enthusiasm as local radio stations aired times to spot satellites and local and national newspapers ran hundreds of articles that described the nighttime activities of Moonwatchers.
  Moonwatch caught the attention of those citizens interested in science or the Space Race during the late 1950s and much of the general public as well. Newspapers and popular magazines featured stories about Moonwatch regularly; dozens of articles appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, and The New York Times alone.  Meanwhile, in the U.S. local businesses sponsored teams with monikers like Spacehounds and The Order of Lunartiks. Meanwhile, Moonwatch teams in Peru, Japan, Australia, and even the Arctic regularly sent their observations to the Smithsonian.
  Moonwatch complemented the professional system of satellite tracking stations that Fred Whipple organized around the globe. These two networks – one composed of amateurs and the other of seasoned professionals – helped further Whipple's personal goals of expanding his own astronomical empire. Operation Moonwatch was the most successful amateur activity of the IGY and it became the public face of a satellite tracking network that expanded the Smithsonian's global reach. Whipple used satellite tracking as a gateway for his observatory to participate in new research opportunities that appeared in the early years of space exploration.
  In February 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly thanked the SAO, Fred Whipple, and the global corps of satellite spotters that comprised Moonwatch for their efforts in tracking the first Soviet and American satellites.
caption: Historic marker for the Cincinnati, Ohio team
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