The Moon

[Fishy]

How to see the January Wolf Moon beside Mars in the night sky https://www.bbc.com/weather/articles/cdxnl5lrje1o

[Fishy]

Lovely full moon this morning in a clear blue sky..

[Fishy]

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg8jkzlj03o

[Fishy]

Lovely crescent moon tonight with Jupiter just below..

[Fishy]

Cracking full moon last night once the skies cleared..

[Slim]

I've just seen what is definitely the best view of the Moon I've ever seen in my life - a sliver of a crescent, with the rest illuminated as a faint globe by Earthshine. Looked like something from an old sci-fi film.

[Fishy]

I've just seen what is definitely the best view of the Moon I've ever seen in my life - a sliver of a crescent, with the rest illuminated as a faint globe by Earthshine. Looked like something from an old sci-fi film.

Yep..looking good tonight as well...

[Slim]

The Chinese brought some Moon stuff back to Earth in 2020, and a bit of it will be studied in the UK.

It's the first lunar sample we've had since the '70s. One interesting thing is that it comes from a relatively "young" region. Most of the Moon's surface is shaped by ancient volcanic activity and meteorite impacts. But the region where these Chinese samples have been taken is less than 2 billion years old, ie flooded by lava much later than the Apollo sites.

Apparently this was worked out by counting the craters and applying a bit of statistics. Fascinating. But the returned samples have confirmed it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g3krykxypo

In the BBC article the contents of the little vial are described as "more precious than gold dust" which when you consider the expense of getting hold of it and its value to science, seems a ridiculous understatement.

The Chinese mission collected 1.7kg of the stuff. We now have 60mg of it in a safe in Milton Keynes. A bif of googling tells me that 60mg of gold dust would cost about 10p.

The return of the Moon samples was the primary goal of China's Chang'e 5 mission. It probably cost about $1.2 billion. They got 1.73kg so on that basis, 60mg of the stuff was acquired at a cost of $41,618.

[Fishy]

Beautiful almost full moon tonight ( think Monday is the full moon)

[dom]

Love the story of the US astronauts preparing for the moon landings in the 1960s.  As part of the training they had to head out to some inhospitable terrain and practice manoeuvres in space suits. (A bit odd I know as there's nowhere on land with the low gravity of the Moon but I'm sure some value was obtained)

Anyway their operation piqued the interest of the local native American tribe. The Chief approached them and asked what they were doing. They explained about the Apollo mission and their plan to land on the Moon.

The Chief said "The Moon? Our Spirit brethren live on the Moon. Would you be able to deliver a message to them".

"A message? Certainly! What would you like to say"

The Chief said a phrase in his local tongue and got the astronaut to repeat it until it was word perfect.

"What am I saying?" asked the astronaut

"I cannot say" replied the Chief. "They are sacred words that only the tribe and our spirits can understand"

As soon as the training was complete the astronaut rushed to find a translator who knew the tribe's language.

"What am I being asked to relay to their spirits" he asked.

The translator did his best to suppress his laughter as he delivered the translation.

" Do not trust these people. They will steal your land"

[Fishy]

How to see Sunday's 'Blood Moon' total lunar eclipse https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8739rrez23o

[Fishy]

Rainy cloudy here so no chance unless there's a dramatic improvement..

[Matt2112]

Missed it, but lunar eclipses are ten-a-penny aren't they?

[Slim]

Next total one, 2-3 March 2026. Then New Year's Eve 2028.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Beautiful moon tonight. Shame about last night's clouds.