13th April 2017

 It's been cloudy for a few nights so instead... I made a model of the Solar System!

The Moon is 250,000 miles on average from the Earth. Hard to imagine, but how much harder to imagine the distances of the planets from the Sun? It's incredulous!

In the photos, the Sun is represented by a fiery orange sphere, the Earth by a globe, and the other planets by marbles and pool balls. The planets are not to scale but the distances are.

The tape measure is 5 metres long, and Pluto is off the scale!

I'm including Pluto because this is a NO-BULLY-PLUTO blog!

The second photo shows the view from Pluto, the exposure makes it look a wild and lonely place.

9th April 2017

Looks like a full moon.

Did you see any lycanthropes?

Sunday 9th April 2017, 23:25.

Full moon phase. Distance 244,447 miles.

Compass south 160 degrees.

8th April 2017

You may think this is a full moon but it's not quite.

There's another moon song called 'Bad Moon Rising' - check Youtube!

Saturday 8th April 2017, 23:20.

Waxing gibbous phase. Distance 243,305 miles.

Compass south 175 degrees.

7th April 2017

I tried the tungsten light setting on the camera for a bit of fun and got this cool blue colour.

There's a song called 'Blue Moon' - check Youtube!

Friday 7th April 2017, 23:20.

Waxing gibbous phase. Distance 241,112 miles.

Compass south 180 degrees.

6th April 2017

Moving cloud so difficult to get a good exposure for the moon and a clear view.

Thursday 6th April 2017, 23:20.

Waxing gibbous phase. Distance 238,827 miles.

Compass South West 230 degrees.

5th April 2017

You can see the Sun's shadow go from Anaxagoras at the top to the big crater of Copernicus in the middle to the cluster of craters around Schiller at the bottom.

Wednesday 5th April 2017, 23:15.

Waxing gibbous phase. Distance 236,472 miles.

Compass south west, 215 degrees.

Clear skies.

4th April 2017

Same day, 8 hours later. Look how the angle of shadow has changed, now top right to bottom left.

You can also see moon daytime and nighttime. If you were standing on the bottom right of the moon you would be able to see the Sun but if you were standing on the top left of the moon it would be dark.

You would also be either very hot or very cold because the Moon has no atmosphere so cannot keep the Sun's heat at nighttime.

Tuesday 4th April 2017, 23:55.

First quarter phase. Distance 234,091 miles.

Compass west, 260 degrees.

Clear skies, great for Moon watching.

4th April 2017

Daytime moon!
It's exciting because it feels funny seeing the moon in the daytime.
You can still see a lot of detail even though it's daylight.
Can you see the angle of the shadow is the opposite of 2 days ago - now top left to bottom right?

Tuesday 4th April 2017, 16:00.

First quarter phase. Distance 234,091 miles.

Compass east, 90 degrees.

12 degrees Centigrade, Humidity 51%.

2nd April 2017

I only saw the moon a few times in March because of the cloudy weather - a bit like February.
But April looks like being a bumper month. Here's the first one.
Nearly midnight; the Moon was very low.

Sunday 2nd April 2017, 23:50.

Waxing crescent phase. Distance 229,616 miles.

Compass west, 290 degrees.