Moon

A New Look at Apollo Samples Supports Ancient Impact Theory

May 24, 2012

New investigations of lunar samples collected during the Apollo missions have revealed origins from beyond the Earth-Moon system, supporting a hypothesis of ancient cataclysmic bombardment for both worlds.

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Going to the Moon? Don’t Touch the Historical Artifacts, NASA Says

May 24, 2012

Don’t say you haven’t been warned. NASA put out an official document today specifying how close any future spacecraft and astronauts visiting the Moon can come to the artifacts left on the lunar surface by all US space missions, including the Apollo landing sites, any robotic landing sites like Surveyor and impact sites like LCROSS. [...]

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Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast: May 21-27, 2012

May 21, 2012

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Here’s hoping you had an opportunity to witness yesterday’s eclipse! Even the partial phase here in Ohio was exciting… and to be able to watch virtually via live feeds was equally impressive! The week begins with dark skies and deep studies. Get up early to enjoy the apparition of Jupiter and Mercury [...]

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Your ‘Supermoon’ Images from Around the World

May 6, 2012

We asked for ‘em, and you sent ‘em in: here are great images of the perigee Moon on May 5, 2012, the largest full Moon of the year taken by our readers.

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How the Hubble Telescope Will Look at the Moon to See Venus Transit the Sun

May 4, 2012

Venus moving across the face of the Sun, from our vantage point here on Earth, is such a rare event, that astronomers and observatories around the world have been preparing for this year’s Venus Transit, on June 5-6. And one observatory that is literally “around the world,” – the Hubble Space Telescope — is even [...]

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Moon Craters 3-D!

May 4, 2012

While many are hoping to see a larger-than-usual view of the Moon this weekend, here’s some great 3-D closeups courtesy of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and imaging wizard Nathanial Burton Bradford. This great 3-D view (Red/Cyan glasses needed) shows quite an interesting young impact crater on the Moon, (17.682°S, 144.408°E) west of Isaev crater. Click [...]

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Supermoon This Weekend

May 2, 2012

This weekend will provide the full Moon’s closest approach of the year to Earth. On Saturday, May 5, 2012 the Moon could appear as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full Moons of 2012, according to some calculations. Will you notice it? Not if you haven’t really been paying attention, or have [...]

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Pictures of the Moon

April 29, 2012

The Moon is one of the most familiar and beautiful objects in the night sky (and daytime too!). Let’s take a look at some beautiful images of the Moon. Of course, since Universe Today is a space and astronomy website, all of these pictures of the Moon were taken by spacecraft, or people on board [...]

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Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast: April 30-May 6, 2012

April 29, 2012

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for another week filled with bright planets, a meteor shower, challenging lunar features, interesting stars and astronomy history? Then you have come to the right place! Bring along your telescopes and binoculars and meet me in the backyard…

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Ancient Asteroids Kept Pelting Earth in a ‘Late-Late’ Heavy Bombardment

April 25, 2012

Even though the Late Heavy Bombardment is somewhat of a controversial idea, new research has revealed this period of impacts to the Earth-Moon system may have lasted much longer than originally estimated and well into the time when early life was forming on Earth. Additionally, this “late-late” period of impacts — 3.8 billion to 2.5 [...]

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Lunar Satellite Reveals Apollo 16 Remains

April 24, 2012

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) made a low pass over the Apollo 16 site last fall, capturing images of the leftovers from John Young and Charlie Duke’s 1972 exploration of the Descartes Highlands. The video above takes us on a tour of the Apollo 16 site from lunar orbit, and includes audio from the original [...]

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The Family that Went to the Moon

April 24, 2012

Well, the family photo, anyway. On April 23, 1972, Apollo 16 astronauts Charlie Duke and John Young embarked on the third and final EVA of the mission, exploring the Descartes Highlands via Lunar Roving Vehicle. During the EVA, before setting up a Solar Wind Collector, Duke placed a small family photo he had brought along [...]

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Join the Million Crater Challenge

April 23, 2012

Like a challenge? Right now you can join in a contest to mark a million craters, as part of the Moon Mappers project. “Our challenge to you is to try and observe 1 million craters on the Moon before the full Moon again rises in the evening sky on May 5,” said Dr. Pamela Gay, [...]

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Earthrise, Revisited

April 23, 2012

On December 24, 1968, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, William Anders and Jim Lovell were the first humans to witness an Earthrise as our home planet came up over the lunar horizon. The photos they captured were the first of their kind, instantly inspiring the imaginations of millions and highlighting the beauty and fragility of [...]

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Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast: April 23-29, 2012

April 22, 2012

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! What a great week to just enjoy some great unaided eye astronomy observations. Who can resist the beautiful appearance of Mars in Leo? Also this week, you’ll enjoy not one – but two – meteor showers as the Mu Virginids come to town mid-week and the Bootids light up the weekend. Get [...]

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Beautiful Image: The Moon as Seen from the Space Station

April 16, 2012

A lovely view for the start of your week: The Moon and Earth’s atmosphere as seen from the International Space Station, taken by a member of the current Expedition 30 crew. See more images from the crew here.

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Scientists Suggest Evidence of Recent Lunar Volcanism

April 14, 2012

A team of researchers at India’s Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) claims it has found evidence of relatively recent volcanic activity on the Moon, using data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Chadrayaan-1 spacecraft. According to the findings the central peak of Tycho crater contains features that are volcanic in origin, indicating that the Moon [...]

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What’s the Moon Made Of? Earth, Most Likely.

April 12, 2012

Recent research on lunar samples has shown that the Moon may be made of more Earth than green cheese — if by “green cheese” you mean the protoplanet impactor that was instrumental in its creation.

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Astrophotos: A Colorful Moon

April 10, 2012

Recognize this? Yes, it is our own Moon, but using Photoshop, the photographer, César Cantú from the Chilidog Observatory in Monterrey, Mexico extracted the Moon’s colors and exaggerated them just a bit. “Although exaggerated, the color components are the real highlights,” César said, “with blue indicating a significant amount of titanium, and the orange areas [...]

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1st Student Selected MoonKAM Pictures Look Inspiringly Home to Earth

March 22, 2012

The first student selected photos of the Moon’s surface snapped by NASA’s new pair of student named Lunar Mapping orbiters – Ebb & Flow – have just been beamed back and show an eerie view looking back to the Home Planet – and all of Humanity – barely rising above the pockmarked terrain of the [...]

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