Saturday, 30 September 2017
Thursday, 28 September 2017
Moon 26th September 2017, 19:53
Fuzzy moon!
Lots of water vapour in the sky.
Distance 250,359 miles.
First quarter phase.
185 degrees SW compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 17 degrees.
Lots of water vapour in the sky.
Distance 250,359 miles.
First quarter phase.
185 degrees SW compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 17 degrees.
Sunday, 17 September 2017
Moon 13th September 2017
Morning Moon.
9 o'clock in the morning.
Although it's light, you can still see a lot of good detail.
Time 09:00.
Distance 229,847 miles.
Last quarter phase.
225 degrees SW compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 48.5 degrees.
9 o'clock in the morning.
Although it's light, you can still see a lot of good detail.
Time 09:00.
Distance 229,847 miles.
Last quarter phase.
225 degrees SW compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 48.5 degrees.
Saturday, 9 September 2017
Moon 6th September 2017
Cloud!
Time 23:10.
Distance 247,160 miles.
Full moon phase.
140 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 23.4 degrees.
Time 23:10.
Distance 247,160 miles.
Full moon phase.
140 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 23.4 degrees.
Moon 5th September 2017
Full Moon!
Howl!
I mentioned on 2nd September how bright Aristarchus was - it looks bright even on the full moon!
Time 22:50.
Distance 242,175 miles.
Full moon phase.
147 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 22 degrees.
Howl!
I mentioned on 2nd September how bright Aristarchus was - it looks bright even on the full moon!
Time 22:50.
Distance 242,175 miles.
Full moon phase.
147 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 22 degrees.
Sunday, 3 September 2017
Moon 2nd September 2017
Can you see the bright dot on the terminator? ... The Aristarchus Crater!
It's bright because it's young, only 450 million years old. Young for the Moon anyway! So it hasn't been weathered by the solar wind yet.
It's nearly 3 times deeper than the 'Grand' Canyon!
It was named after a Greek astronomer.
Time 20:30.
Distance 247,160 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
150 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 14.3 degrees.
It's bright because it's young, only 450 million years old. Young for the Moon anyway! So it hasn't been weathered by the solar wind yet.
It's nearly 3 times deeper than the 'Grand' Canyon!
It was named after a Greek astronomer.
Time 20:30.
Distance 247,160 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
150 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 14.3 degrees.
Saturday, 2 September 2017
Moon 1st September 2017
The cloud's back!
I got a photo in a gap in the cloud and it made a shadow over the Mare Imbrium. Otherwise we would have been able to see where Lunokhod 1 landed!
Time 21:30.
Distance 249,138 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
178 degrees S compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 17.4 degrees.
I got a photo in a gap in the cloud and it made a shadow over the Mare Imbrium. Otherwise we would have been able to see where Lunokhod 1 landed!
Time 21:30.
Distance 249,138 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
178 degrees S compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 17.4 degrees.
Moon 31st August 2017
BIRMINGHAM on the MOON!!
These two photos are interesting because they show how much the Moon has rotated over 2 1/2 hours.
But even more interesting is that you can see Birmingham! Not the city, but the crater.
It's a disintegrated crater and all that's left are low walls and a rough surface with craterlets! Even so, it's still bigger than the city - 92 km diameter and 1.8 km deep.
It was discovered by the Irish astronomer John Birmingham in 1866 and you can see his telescope in the Milltown museum, Co. Galway!
Time 20:30 (first photo).
Time 23:00 (second photo).
Distance 250,529 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
175 degrees S compass point (azimuth) (first photo).
210 degrees SW compass point (azimuth) (second photo).
Altitude 17.1 degrees (first photo).
Altitude 12.4 degrees (second photo).
These two photos are interesting because they show how much the Moon has rotated over 2 1/2 hours.
But even more interesting is that you can see Birmingham! Not the city, but the crater.
It's a disintegrated crater and all that's left are low walls and a rough surface with craterlets! Even so, it's still bigger than the city - 92 km diameter and 1.8 km deep.
It was discovered by the Irish astronomer John Birmingham in 1866 and you can see his telescope in the Milltown museum, Co. Galway!
Time 20:30 (first photo).
Time 23:00 (second photo).
Distance 250,529 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
175 degrees S compass point (azimuth) (first photo).
210 degrees SW compass point (azimuth) (second photo).
Altitude 17.1 degrees (first photo).
Altitude 12.4 degrees (second photo).
Tuesday, 29 August 2017
Moon 28th August 2017
"Moon illusion" Mystery!
The Moon looked very big in the sky tonight.
It was very low in the sky, only 4 degrees above the horizon.
This is called the "Moon illusion", which is an optical illusion that causes the Moon to appear larger when near the horizon than it does higher up in the sky.
No-one knows 100% for certain why this happens, neither Ptolemy nor NASA!
Time 22:30.
Distance 250,011 miles.
First quarter phase.
240 degrees SW compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 4 degrees.
The Moon looked very big in the sky tonight.
It was very low in the sky, only 4 degrees above the horizon.
This is called the "Moon illusion", which is an optical illusion that causes the Moon to appear larger when near the horizon than it does higher up in the sky.
No-one knows 100% for certain why this happens, neither Ptolemy nor NASA!
Time 22:30.
Distance 250,011 miles.
First quarter phase.
240 degrees SW compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 4 degrees.
Monday, 28 August 2017
Moon 27th August 2017
The terminator tonight is on... Surveyor 5!
Surveyor 5 landed on Mare Tranquillitatis in 1967 (near the Apollo 11 landing).
It had a TV camera that transmitted 19,049 images.
A magnet on one of its feet detected magnetic materials in the lunar soil.
It was made by Hughes Aircraft, owned by Howard Hughes.
The total cost for the 7 Surveyor spacecraft was $469 million - wow!
Time 20:10.
Distance 248,201 miles.
Waxing crescent phase.
220 degrees SW compass point.
Surveyor 5 landed on Mare Tranquillitatis in 1967 (near the Apollo 11 landing).
It had a TV camera that transmitted 19,049 images.
A magnet on one of its feet detected magnetic materials in the lunar soil.
It was made by Hughes Aircraft, owned by Howard Hughes.
The total cost for the 7 Surveyor spacecraft was $469 million - wow!
Time 20:10.
Distance 248,201 miles.
Waxing crescent phase.
220 degrees SW compass point.
Sunday, 27 August 2017
Moon 26th August 2017
I tried using the tripod and a self-timer but it was a faff because the slightest movement meant the Moon went out of the viewfinder! It was easier to hand hold. The tripod needs a geared head but they're very expensive! I think I'll stick to hand holding.
Time 20:50.
Distance 245,708 miles.
Waxing crescent phase.
235 degrees SW compass point.
Time 20:50.
Distance 245,708 miles.
Waxing crescent phase.
235 degrees SW compass point.
Moon 5th August 2017
This is another (summer) problem I have - too much evening light - it looks nice but doesn't show any detail!
The second picture was about an hour later.
The second picture was about an hour later.
Moon 4th August 2017
This is an example of the common problem that I have - too much cloud!
But thankfully there was a brief break in the cloud for the third photo.
But thankfully there was a brief break in the cloud for the third photo.
Sunday, 6 August 2017
Moon 3rd August 2017
The Terminator has moved across to almost a
perfect arc for three Luna landings, and is pretty much exactly on the
site of Luna 17!
Luna 17 landed in 1970, 47 years ago.
As well as 4 TV cameras it had... an x-ray spectrometer, an x-ray telescope, cosmic-ray detectors and a laser - wow!
It's still there and was photographed in 2010 by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter!
Luna 17 landed in 1970, 47 years ago.
As well as 4 TV cameras it had... an x-ray spectrometer, an x-ray telescope, cosmic-ray detectors and a laser - wow!
It's still there and was photographed in 2010 by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter!
!!! APOLLO 15 ANNIVERSARY !!!
(30th July 2017)
Incredible! Not only is it the 46th anniversary of the Apollo 15 landing but also...
...the landing site is on the Terminator and...
...the photo was taken at more or less the same time!
It took three and a half days to reach the Moon's orbit.
It was half a day quicker on the way back!
It was recovered by USS Okinawa which not only served in the evacuation of Saigon, the Iranian hostage crises and the Gulf war, but also recovered Apollo 6!
Distance 248,395 miles.
First quarter phase.
140 degrees SE compass point.
Incredible! Not only is it the 46th anniversary of the Apollo 15 landing but also...
...the landing site is on the Terminator and...
...the photo was taken at more or less the same time!
It took three and a half days to reach the Moon's orbit.
It was half a day quicker on the way back!
It was recovered by USS Okinawa which not only served in the evacuation of Saigon, the Iranian hostage crises and the Gulf war, but also recovered Apollo 6!
Distance 248,395 miles.
First quarter phase.
140 degrees SE compass point.
Sunday, 16 July 2017
Moon 9th July 2017
22:30
More or less a full moon. Looks like a low sun in the first photo - a bit like my old profile picture!
Distance 250,388 miles.
Full moon phase.
135 degrees S compass point.
Moon 6th July 2017
22:20
Big contrast to the 5th.
Scary clouds moving fast around the Moon.
It looks like smog to me!
Big contrast to the 5th.
Scary clouds moving fast around the Moon.
It looks like smog to me!
Sunday, 9 July 2017
Moon 4th July 2017
22:06
Great terminator that shows off the Sinus Iridum (Latin for "Bay of Rainbows") in the top left. It's a plain formed from the remains of a large impact crater. What's exciting is just south west is the landing site of Lunokhod 1. Russian landings are exciting because they were really the space pioneers.
The Luna 17 spacecraft carried Lunokhod 1 to the Moon in 1970 - landing on the Moon in the Sea of Rains. Lunokhod means "moon walker" in Russian and it was the first remote-controlled robot "rover".
It had 180 watts of power and would run during the day when the sunlight could charge its batteries then hibernated at night!
Great terminator that shows off the Sinus Iridum (Latin for "Bay of Rainbows") in the top left. It's a plain formed from the remains of a large impact crater. What's exciting is just south west is the landing site of Lunokhod 1. Russian landings are exciting because they were really the space pioneers.
The Luna 17 spacecraft carried Lunokhod 1 to the Moon in 1970 - landing on the Moon in the Sea of Rains. Lunokhod means "moon walker" in Russian and it was the first remote-controlled robot "rover".
It had 180 watts of power and would run during the day when the sunlight could charge its batteries then hibernated at night!
Saturday, 8 July 2017
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