This past Thursday, April 23, skywatchers were treated to a special event: the moon occulting (hiding) Venus. During the early morning hours (exact time depending on location) the crescent moon passed across Venus, obscuring it from Earth’s view. This image was taken by David Cortner, a photographer in North Carolina. It shows a large-scale…
Category: The Moon
To The Moon
This HD video is a wonderful overview of JAXA’s Kaguya SELENE (SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) mission, currently in orbit around the moon. After an amazing launch on September 14, 2007, shown here in stunning high definition, the probe entered orbit around the moon and deployed two remote satellites which communicate with the main probe. This mission…
Executive Parking
One of the perks of working on the Moon is always being able to find a good parking spot. This image shows Apollo 17 astronaut and geologist Harrison “Jack” Schmitt standing below a boulder called “Tracy’s Rock”, with the lunar rover parked in the background. Schmitt is carrying a gnomon, a marked rod on…
Lights on the Dark Side
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has released the videos taken by the high-definition camera aboard its Kaguya lunar orbiter. This one is a flyover of a region called Mare Ingenii, or “Sea of Cleverness”, a rare lava flow area on the moon’s far side. The far side permanently faces away from the Earth and so…
Clementine: Lost and Gone Forever, But Never Forgotten!
One of my all-time favorite space images is this little gem from the Clementine mission to the Moon, launched in January of 1994. It features a view from beyond the far side of the Moon, illuminated by reflected light off the Earth off frame to the left, blocking the disc of the Sun with the solar corona…
Birthing the Moon
Where did the moon come from? It seems silly to ask, given that it has shone down upon us, brightening our nights with its cool white light since humans – since life itself – ever existed. But it’s an anomaly. Venus has no moon. Neither does Mercury. Mars has two tiny chunks of rock…
Small Steps
It’s important to remember that, even with all of the incredible images and data coming in from the robotic missions at work around our solar system every day, humans have yet to venture further than our own Moon. Which is no mean feat in itself…traveling the 240,000-mile journey there and then back is not for…
Lights in the Dark 