Posts tagged moon
“…we used to visit. We used to call. Sister moon is sad…” We’re with you, Trace. Time to saddle up and get back to that big lump of lunar loveliness! More from the DNews Channel!
Launched Dec. 7, 1972, Apollo 17 was the last space mission to land astronauts on the moon.
today marks 50 40* years since we last set out to land on the moon.
today is a sad day.
*It’s a sad day, Trace, but it’s not THAT sad! ;) ~Ian
Apollo Veteran: Skip Asteroid, Go to the Moon: It’s 40 years to the day that the final mission to the moon launched. Discovery News speaks with Apollo 17 astronaut and geologist Harrison “Jack” Schmitt about where he thinks the Earth’s only satellite came from and why he thinks a NASA manned asteroid mission is a mistake.
“I think an asteroid is a diversion, if the ultimate goal is to get to Mars, you have a satellite only three days away that has a great deal of science as well as resources. The science of the moon has just been scratched. We’ve hardly explored the moon.” — Schmitt
It’s a Pac-Man Moon! Pac-Moon? Yes, Pac-Moon. Two Pac-Moons!
“Solar wind is a flow of particles continually flowing away from the sun,” says Nick Collins at The Telegraph. Earth’s magnetic field typically deflects these particles away, but the moon doesn’t have the same kind of protection. Solar wind “whacks into the lunar surface” at approximately a million miles per hour, often carrying hydrogen with it, says AFP.
The impact is “so brutal” that the sun’s gust diminishes the moon’s mass by a million tons per hour. Although it’s unclear exactly how the next step happens, the foreign hydrogen then combines with the moon’s oxygen to form hydroxyls, or tiny glassy, bead-like compounds comprised of one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom, says Irene Klotz at Discovery News. These hydroxyls, which Liu and his team discovered using new soil analysis techniques, get stored in the soil and are just one hydrogen atom away from becoming water.
So they’re saying the moon is blown away by how powerful the sun is? *snicker* *chortle*
does the image on the left remind you of anything?
because the moment i saw it i recalled the image on the right.
these were taken 43 years and millions of miles apart and yet… they’re so similar.
we aren’t sending people (yet) but we are leaving our mark.
Images: NASA,/JPL-Caltech
Our moon photo-bombed the sun, yo.
what a thug.
Earth Eclipses View of Solar Dynamic Observatory
While this video is from 2007, it’s fall eclipse season! This is the time of year when Earth passes in from of the Solar Dynamic Observatory, eclipsing the sun from its vantage point.
I had a conversation with a friend today about why NASA (and space exploration in general) is good. She didn’t think it was worth the money and would rather spend their brains and budget on world hunger or other worthy causes. I pointed her to a number of reasons why space exploration helps the people of Earth.
That black shadow in the video above is our moon moving in the way of the sun. How is that not worth less than a penny per tax dollar?
For most people the most important reason isn’t monetary, scientific, or political.
Space-exploration just plain inspires people, worldwide.
Giant Marble Harvests Energy from Sun and Moon
It looks like a giant, glass marble. But this globe is no game. It’s a sun-tracking, solar energy concentrator.
This sun-tracking glass globe is able to concentrate sunlight and moonlight up to 10,000 times and that the system is 35 percent more efficient than traditional photovoltaic designs that track the sun.
The audio really makes this 360-degree panoramic come to life. These folks did a fantastic job.
Apollo 11 Interactive Panorama
Thanks to the nice folks at PhotoJPL.com, you can hang out with Buzz and Neil at Tranquility Base. Click through above for complete lunarcy. That amazing experience was stitched together from photos that Armstrong himself took.
Want more lunar panoramas? Relive most of the Apollo landings here. You’ll essentially feel like this the whole time.
don’t forget to click on that last link. Its #NSFW, but it’s hilarious.
Remembering Neil Armstrong: Humanity’s Hero
“As you go outside tonight, take a look at the moon and remember that Armstrong’s bootprints are still there, beckoning us to return and continue where the Apollo astronauts left off.”
Lest anyone think that NASA’s flawless landing on Mars this week didn’t come without some blood, sweat and tears along the way, consider the sad fate of the agency’s prototype moon lander, Morpheus. Sad face.
NASA Prototype Lunar Lander Crashes, Burns
The lander, which looks something like a flattened insect, lifted off as expected, but seconds later it canted over on its side and crashed to the ground.
Any chance of salvaging it ended when a spectacular explosion, probably caused by the rupturing of the fuel tanks, ignited a second burst of smoke and flame.
NASA says we should expect the occasion failures in test programs — that’s what they are for.
