Tag: moon

science

What Type of Moon Is It?

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This past Fri night my wife came home talking about how everyone was talking about the moon and how bright it was that night. A bright moon means it’s a full moon – a new moon (hello Twilight fans!) means no light and all of those bright full moon were named by the Native Americans of what is now the northern and eastern United States a few hundred years ago. These tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon so they knew what to do that month. This past week we saw the the Full Wolf Moon.
As an FYI, a lunar month is 29.5 days which means that every year, 11 days are “missing” from our 365 day a year calendar. This is why religions, such as the Jewish religion religion, add a leap month (not a leap day) to their calendar every four years.
The next time super bright moon will show up in about 30 days, Feb 28 to be exact. In case you want to know, the 2010 Naming Convention is as follows:

  • Jan. 30, 1:18 a.m. EST — Full Wolf Moon.
  • Feb. 28, 11:38 a.m. EST — Full Snow Moon or Full Hunger Moon
  • Mar. 29, 10:25 p.m. EDT — Full Worm Moon, Full Crow Moon, Full Crust Moon, Full Sap Moon or Paschal Full Moon
  • Apr. 28, 8:18 a.m. EDT — Full Pink Moon, Full Sprouting Grass Moon, Egg Moon or Full Fish Moon
  • May 27, 7:07 p.m. EDT — Full Flower Moon, Full Corn Planting Moon or Milk Moon.
  • Jun. 26, 7:30 a.m. EDT — Full Strawberry Moon
  • Jul. 25, 9:37 p.m. EDT — Full Buck Moon, Full Thunder Moon or Full Hay Moon
  • Aug. 24, 1:05 p.m. EDT — Full Sturgeon Moon, Full Red Moon, Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon
  • Sep. 23, 5:17 a.m. EDT — Full Harvest Moon
  • Oct. 22, 9:36 p.m. EDT — Full Hunters’ Moon
  • Nov. 21, 12:27 p.m. EST — Full Beaver Moon, Frosty Moon
  • Dec. 21, 3:13 a.m. EST — Full Cold Moon
space

The Moon is Alive!

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A giddy sort of excitement swept through me today when I heard that significant amounts of water has been found on the moon. A NASA mission that plunged a rocket into the moon’s surface last month on purpose to possibly detect water in fact detected about 25 gallons of water in the form of vapor and ice.
“The moon is alive,” a mission scientist says. What a groovy thing to say about the lifeless rock that controls our tides.
While this is not the first time that water has been found on the moon, previously water was found in such an insignificant amount that it did not really matter at all.
This time around though things are different: this amount of water is enough to start one dreaming about setting up moon bases and then having them drill for water to survive. Carrying water is a heavy proposition – any who has hiked a decent distance will agree with that statement – and flying hundreds of gallons to the moon would be super expensive. The long time dream / fantasy for all moon explorers is that you wouldn’t need to transport water to the moon, rather you could just drill for water when you get there. Now, that seems to be at least a real possibility. Moon tourism in my lifetime? That has moved into the possible but not probable category, which is definitely better than “No way Jose.”
Via ma femme

space

We Are On The Moon

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40 years and about 5 minutes ago man first touched down on the moon and I got to listen to the way it happened. I actually got chills as they were landing. Seriously.
“Houston (uh) Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed.”
“Roger Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. We got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, they’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.”
For more info, see my previous moon related post which is about the site that is allowing me to experience this event “first” hand.

space

We Choose The Moon

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To honor the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar mission, during which mankind first stepped foot on a galactic body that was not our own (and where the United States claimed ownership over the Moon – ours is the only flag up there even today), the JFK Presidential Library has launched a simply gorgeous site called We Choose The Moon.
On this site, you can view photos, videos and information related to the Apollo 11 mission. You can track the mission through 11 different stages (11 to honor the mission number) from take off to landing on the moon and then the return back to our planet. You can follow the mission on Twitter three different ways: with tweets from CapCom, from the Spacecraft and/or from the Eagle lander. You can even download a mission tracker widget for your desktop. Fun stuff.
I just love the name of the site. You choose to _____? We choose the moon. Boosh!
Not only did we choose the Moon as a challenge, most importantly we succeeded and year later, little kids like me grew up and knew that when I stared off into the night sky, not only was it possible to get to the moon and back but that really anything was / is possible. If we could do that – what couldn’t we do?
While the early 60’s were a time of great challenges (then again, really, when hasn’t our nation faced dire challenges?), on May 21, 1961, JFK took a strong stand in support of space exploration. Standing before Congress to deliver a special message on “urgent national needs,” he asked for an additional $7 billion to $9 billion over the next five years for the space program, proclaiming that “this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” And we did. ‘Nuff said.
The rocket “blasts off” in just under 12 hours and I plan on tracking the mission every step of the way.

science

Huge Moon Rising

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Tonight if you look up you will see the Solstice Moon – a low, horizon-hugging Moon which produces a strong Moon illusion where the moon will look abnormally huge. This is due to the rapidly approaching summer solstice which is happening in two days. Pretty neat, huh?

science

Look Up Tonight!

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Oh what a night if you are into star gazing. Not only will there be a total lunar eclipse (something that will not occur again until Dec, 2010) but the U.S. Navy very well might try to shoot down that failing and falling “toxic” spy satellite.
All of this occurs after the Atlantis lands back on Terra Firma at 9:07 am. Fingers crossed.
The eclipse will occur on the east coast from 8:43 pm through 12:09 am Thu, 2/21. It should be red and glorious. Enjoy. The satellite is being shot down over the Pacific and I’m sure our friends in the Orient will be paying close attention.

space

Moon 2.0

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The next race to the moon has begun! The X PRIZE Foundation and Google Inc. today announced the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a robotic race to the Moon. The press release boldly states: “Moon 2.0, the second era of lunar exploration, will not be a quest for “flags and footprints.” This time we will go to the Moon to stay.”
To win the Grand Prize – worth $20 million dollars – a team must successfully:

  • Soft land a privately funded spacecraft on the Moon
  • Rove on the lunar surface for a minimum of 500 meters
  • Transmit a specific set of video, images and data, called a “Mooncast,” back to Earth

The Mooncast consists of digital data that must be collected and transmitted to the Earth composed of the following:

  • High resolution 360º panoramic photographs taken on the surface of the Moon
  • Self portraits of the rover taken on the surface of the Moon
  • Near-real time videos showing the craft’s journey along the lunar surface
  • High Definition (HD) video
  • Transmission of a cached set of data, loaded on the craft before launch (e.g. first email from the Moon).

Just as the Ansari X Prize led Burt Rutan to build Spaceship One, hopefully someone in the near future will actually be able to pull this off. That would be, in the words of my inner 12 year old, totally sweet.
Via Adam

space

Space News

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I had a fitful night’s rest last night, woke up twice early this morning and each time turned on the tele to see if Discovery made it back okay. Due to bad weather, we’ll all have to wait until tomorrow to see. My friend Phyllis asked, “I wonder if the wee hours were on purpose, or just orbit-related” and you know what? I’m wondering the same thing…

In other space news, I found on Chris’s site an excellent analysis of the shuttle program, it’s limited success, and its multiple shortcomings written by one Maciej Ceglowski. If you are at all interested in space, its a fascinating read.

Phyll sent me to a Smoking Gun post about a memo William Safire wrote in 1969 which provided a speech for President Nixon to read in case Armstrong and Aldren were stranded on the moon. Just like the SG, I find the “widows-to-be” part morbidly amusing.