Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
Founder: Joseph Barone
Contributors: crookedindifference, bumerangue, propagandery, rocketmagic, rostenbach
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Vitor/bumerangue: a beautiful Moon picture taken by my love last Saturday, at 1130 PM, in Guaíba, Brazil. He used a Nikon 510, 42X zoom, ISO 100.
Isostasy, gravity, and the Moon! Last week the GRAIL lunar gravity mission published their first scientific results, and what they have found will send many geophysicists back to the drawing board to explain how the Moon formed and why it looks the way it does now.
Here’s an explainer of the first results from GRAIL.
Source: The Planetary Society Facebook page.
Evolution of the Moon.
Lick Observatory Moonrise
Image Credit & Copyright: Rick Baldridge
Explanation: As viewed from a well chosen location at sunset, the gorgeous Full Moon rose behind Mount Hamilton, east of San Jose, California on March 7. The lunar disk frames historic Lick Observatory perched on the mountain’s 4,200 foot summit. Both observatory and Moon echo the warm color of sunlight (moonlight is reflected sunlight) filtered by a long path through the atmosphere. Substantial atmospheric refraction contributes the Moon’s ragged, green rim. Of course, the March Full Moon is also known as the Full Worm Moon. In the telescopic photo, Lick’s 40 inch Nickel Telescope dome is on the left. The large dome on the right houses Lick’s Great 36 inch Refractor.
Russia and NASA plan to COLONISE the Moon
‘We want to do more than just step on it’
Russian, American and European space agencies are in talks to create a human colony on the moon, according to Russian news source Rianovosti.
Russia wants to build either a space base on the surface of the Moon itself or a space station that closely orbits the heavenly body – and has planned talks with NASA and the European Space Agency about creating the manned base. It has been 40 years since humans visited the Moon and Russia cosmo-bosses want to go further this time.
“We don’t want the man to just step on the Moon,” agency chief Vladimir Popovkin said in an interview with Vesti FM radio station. “Today, we know enough about it. We know that there is water in its polar areas,” he added. “We are now discussing how to begin [the Moon’s] exploration with NASA and the European Space Agency.”
The Old, Awesome Space Drawings of E.L. Trouvelot - Rebecca J. Rosen - Technology - The Atlantic
If you think NASA’s artistic renderings of the deep beyond are cool, you will love these space drawings from French astronomer and artist Etienne Leopold Trouvelot.
Missions that Weren’t: One-Way Mission to the Moon
When President Kennedy promised America a lunar landing in 1961, he effectively set the Moon as the finish line in the space race. In the wake of his speech, NASA began scrambling to find a way to reach the Moon in advance of the Soviet Union, which at the time held a commanding lead in space. Apollo, already on the drawing board as an Earth orbiting program, was revised to reflect the lunar goal and Gemini was established as the interim program.
The pieces were in place; all NASA needed was a way to get to the Moon. Against this pressing background, two men proposed a desperate and direct mission to get an American on the Moon as quickly as possible.
Gulliver, our travel blog, relates a nice story for travellers frustrated by paperwork: when the Apollo 11 astronauts returned from the moon, they filled out a customs form and declared their cargo. (via Space.com)
Beautiful images of Moon phases on this Bjork video.
Apollo 17 Site: A Sharper View
Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State Univ. / Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
This image of Earth (on the left) and the moon (on the right) was taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on Aug. 26, 2011, when the spacecraft was about 6 million miles (9.66 million kilometers) away. It was taken by the spacecraft’s onboard camera, JunoCam. The solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Aug. 5 to begin a five-year journey to Jupiter.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
GRAIL LAUNCH TO MOON NEARS
Aug 25, 2011 (Run time - 41:38)
NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory mission is less than two weeks away from launch as scientists and engineers discuss how its two spacecraft will reveal new data about the surface and interior of the moon, from crust to core. GRAIL is set to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station the morning of Sept. 8.
(Source: youtube.com)
