Looking for a great gift for your favorite astronomy fan (even if that happens to be yourself?) Then check out this very cool 2014 Moon Calendar from Ashland Astronomy Studio in Oregon — it shows you an entire year of Moon phases, eclipses and other lunar events so you’ll always be in tune with the Moon!…
Category: The Moon
What Does the Moon Smell Like?
The Moon may not have any air to breathe, but it does have a very thin exosphere — a diffuse layer of molecules held by gravity above its surface that sometimes traps some of the very fine lunar dust in suspension via electrostatic activity. (In fact this very evening, at 11:27 pm EDT, Sept. 6,…
Want to know where we landed on the Moon? This cool vintage NASA map shows you:
Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 all successfully delivered men to the Moon between the summer of ’69 and December 1972 (and yes, they most certainly did happen) but do you know where on the lunar surface they each landed? This awesome vintage map from NASA points each site out (and is a…
This Day in Space History: One Small Step
Note: Reposted/updated article from 2012. “That’s one small step for a man… one giant leap for mankind.” I’m not sure what else need be said about the significance of what happened on this day in 1969, 44 years ago… it was a shining moment in human history, and will be — should be — remembered…
Supermoon Returns!
If you haven’t heard, tomorrow (June 23) will bring the closest full Moon of the year, which will make it appear big and bright in the night sky — a so-called “Supermoon.” But what does this really mean and how does it happen? Dr. Michelle Thaller of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center explains: While a…
Experience Eclipse Totality (VIDEO)
Totality — that brief period during a solar eclipse when the Moon is completely centered in front of the Sun’s disk — is a truly amazing sight, so much so that many people who have seen it once (a privileged group that doesn’t include me, sadly!) will travel across the globe in an effort witness…
Watch Today’s Total Eclipse Live
Today, tens of thousands of people are gathering in northeastern Australia to witness one of the most amazing and dramatic astronomical events known: a total solar eclipse. At 2:39 p.m. EDT (19:39 UT) the Moon will begin to pass in front of the Sun for viewers around Cairns, Australia, leading up to a brief period…
Curiosity Leaves its “Bootprint”
In an image reminiscent of the historical photo of Buzz Aldrin’s boot print in the lunar soil, Curiosity leaves a wheel scuff in a wind-formed ripple at a site called “Rocknest”. The rover’s right Navigation camera took this image of the scuff mark on the mission’s 57th Martian day, or sol (Oct. 3, 2012). For…
Take a Tour of the Moon (and give a wink for Neil!)
In honor of International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) I invite you to see the Moon like never before, with this beautiful HD tour that takes you around our natural satellite as it’s seen by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. According to the Lunar and Planetary Institute’s David R. Kring, “The scenes in the video are…
Blue Marble, Pale Blue Dot…whatever you call it, it’s Home
35 years ago today, September 18, 1977, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft turned its camera homeward just about two weeks after its launch, capturing the image above from a distance of 7.25 million miles (11.66 million km). It was the first time an image of its kind had ever been taken, showing the entire Earth and Moon together…
President Obama Declares Flags Fly Half-Staff for Neil
Today the White House issued a proclamation that all U.S. flags are to be flown at half staff “as a mark of respect for the memory of Neil Armstrong” on the day of his burial. So, I made a little edit to an image of the flag planted by Armstrong and Aldrin at the Apollo…
This Day in Space History: One Small Step
“That’s one small step for a man… one giant leap for mankind.” I’m not sure what else need be said about the significance of what happened on this day in 1969, 43 years ago… it was a shining moment in human history, and will be — should be — remembered forever as an example of…
Lights in the Dark 