For Moon Lovers (SLOW LOADING)

NASA head says first person on Mars is 'likely to be a woman'
By Christina Maxouris, CNN
Updated 1003 GMT (1803 HKT) March 12, 2019

(CNN)Forget everything you've learned about men and Mars.

Chances are the first person to land on the red planet will be a woman, the head of NASA said recently.

Jim Bridenstine was a guest on the science and technology radio show "Science Friday," when he teased that a woman is "likely to be" the first person on Mars.

The NASA administrator did not identify a specific person, but said women are at the forefront of the agency's upcoming plans.

Bridenstine responded "absolutely" to a question from a Twitter user who asked whether women will be included in the agency's next trip to the moon.

In fact, he said the next person on the moon is also likely to be a woman.

"These are great days," he said.

NASA will also have its first all-female spacewalk at the end of the month, when astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch will get to float around in space.

The spacewalk will last about seven hours, according to the NASA website.

Both McClain and Koch were part of the 2013 astronaut class, half of which were women. They came from the second largest applicant pool NASA ever has received -- more than 6,100. The most recent class of flight directors was also 50% women, NASA said.

NASA has come a long way since 1978, when the first six women joined NASA's astronaut corps. Today, women comprise 34% of active NASA astronauts, according to the agency.

"NASA is committed to making sure we have a broad and diverse set of talent and we're looking forward to the first woman on the moon," Bridenstine said.

Wimmin are going to mars? Yay!
Any hens over 50 must go.

Super Worm Moon — the Final Supermoon of 2019 — to Arrive With Spring on Wednesday

The final supermoon of the year is coming this week and it’s happening just a short time after the official start of spring.

Spring begins this Wednesday at 2:58 p.m. PDT.

The supermoon — this one is called the Super Worm Moon– will happen at 6:43 p.m. PDT — several hours after the official start of spring, according to KTLA sister station WJW in Cleveland.

Space.com reports that for people on the U.S. East Coast, the moon will rise about 20 minutes before sunset, by 7 p.m. local time, and the moon will set the next morning at around 7:30 a.m.

The supermoon comes a day after the moon reaches perigee, the closest point to Earth, making the full moon a supermoon, which makes it appear slightly about 10 percent larger than the full moon usually does.

It appears especially bright when viewed through a small telescope or binoculars.

The Worm Moon reportedly got its name due to the ground beginning to thaw and earthworms reappearing, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

https://ktla.com/2019/03/18/super-worm-moon-final-supermoon-of-2019-arrives-with-spring/

Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902) - Georges Méliès - (HQ) - Music by David Short - Billi Brass Quintet
• Apr 9, 2018

A Trip to the Moon ( Le Voyage dans la Lune) is a 1902 French adventure film directed by Georges Méliès. Inspired by a wide variety of sources, including Jules Verne's novels From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon, the film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the Moon's surface, escape from an underground group of Selenites (lunar inhabitants), and return to Earth with a captive Selenite.

It features an ensemble cast of French theatrical performers, led by Méliès himself in the main role of Professor Barbenfouillis, and is filmed in the overtly theatrical style for which Méliès became famous.A Trip to the Moon was named one of the 100 greatest films of the 20th century by The Village Voice, ranked 84th.

The film remains the best-known of the hundreds of films made by Méliès, and the moment in which the capsule lands in the Moon's eye remains one of the most iconic and frequently referenced images in the history of cinema. It is widely regarded as the earliest example of the science fiction film genre and, more generally, as one of the most influential films in cinema history.

This week’s full moon occurs on 12/12 at 12:12 a.m.
by: WFLA 8 On Your Side Staff
Posted: Dec 8, 2019 / 10:47 AM EST / Updated: Dec 9, 2019 / 01:20 PM EST


A nearly full Harvest Moon is seen on October 04, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Heiman/Getty Images)

TAMPA (WFLA) — The next full moon occurs Thursday, Dec. 12 at 12:12 a.m.

This mean’s December’s full moon, called the Cold Moon, will be at its peak on 12/12 at 12:12.

Twelve has significance when it comes to our relative understanding of space and time. There are 12 months in a year, and our days are split in two groups of 12 hours.

It took 10 years for the photographer Marcella Julia Pace to capture these 48 colours of the Moon

Space organizations want the moon to have its own time zone
MARIELLA MOON | Engadget
March 1, 2023, 10:44 AM


NASA/Goddard/Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

There's been a resurgence of interest in the moon, now that we're getting closer to re-establishing a foothold on the celestial body. Space agencies and private companies around the world have been scheduling their own lunar missions to take place over the coming years, and it will be quite complicated having to coordinate with each other when they use different time zones. During a meeting at the European Space Agency's ESTEC technology center in the Netherlands last year, space organizations talked about the "importance and urgency of defining a common lunar reference time." In a new announcement, ESA navigation system engineer Pietro Giordano said a "joint international effort is now being launched towards achieving this."

At the moment, different space organizations still use their own time zones for their onboard chronometers and their two-way communications systems. The ESA said doing so "will not be sustainable" in the new era of lunar exploration. Missions from different countries will be doing joint observations, and they may have to communicate with each other even if they're not directly working together if they're on the moon at the same time.

Deciding on and keeping lunar time won't be easy, though, and they will come with a unique set of challenges. As the ESA notes, "accurate navigation demands rigorous timekeeping," which is why one of the topics the international group of space organizations will have to discuss is if there should be a single organization responsible for maintaining the moon's time zone. Further, they'll have to decide whether to keep lunar time synchronized with Earth's or not, because clocks on the moon run faster based on the satellite's position. While they have a lot of factors to consider, whatever they come up with will have to practical for astronauts orbiting or stepping on the lunar surface in the end.

Bernhard Hufenbach, a member of the ESA's Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration's Moonlight Management Team, said: "This will be quite a challenge on a planetary surface where in the equatorial region each day is 29.5 days long, including freezing fortnight-long lunar nights, with the whole of Earth just a small blue circle in the dark sky. But having established a working time system for the moon, we can go on to do the same for other planetary destinations."

A mysterious rock orbiting Earth appears to be a chunk of the moon that was blasted away by a meteorite
Business Insider
MARIANNE GUENOT
October 27, 2023 at 5:06 AM

A painting represents a large grey asteroid, Kamo`oalewa, floating in space near the moon. The Earth is seen in the background.


An artist's illustration of near-Earth asteroid Kamo`oalewa floating in space between the moon and our planet.Addy Graham/University of Arizona

A space rock with a peculiar orbit may be a floating piece of the moon.

Scientists had thought moon rocks weren't able to stay in orbit after a meteorite blast.

The new discovery could help better protect us from collisions with near-Earth asteroids.

A chunk of the moon that may have broken away from the lunar surface millions of years ago appears to be orbiting our planet.

The 'quasi-satellite,' named Kamo`oalewa, has baffled scientists for decades due, in part, to its peculiar orbit.

The rock, which is between 120 and 300 feet wide, technically orbits the sun every year. But on its travels, it also keeps the Earth company, slowly spiraling around our planet as it barrels through space.

Now, researchers at the University of Arizona believe they have evidence that it was likely created by an ancient lunar collision.

The discovery could rewrite what we know about potentially dangerous space rocks and help better protect our planet from a future a impact.

Kamoʻoalewa has been Earth's companion for at least a century

"This small asteroid is caught in a little dance with Earth," Paul Chodas, a NASA Near-Earth Object scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, previously said in a blog post.

The space rock "has been a stable quasi-satellite of Earth for almost a century, and it will continue to follow this pattern as Earth's companion for centuries to come," he added


An annotated Gif shows the orbit of tktk around the sun, which also loops around the Earth as it moves through space.NASA/JPL-Caltech/Insider.

This mesmerizing orbit, which poses no threat to Earth, means Kamoʻoalewa qualifies as a rare "quasi-satellite."

A study in 2021, which analyzed the light bouncing off the rock, found it was made of components that were remarkably similar to the stuff that makes up the moon's surface.

But physicists tend to think moon objects shouldn't find stable orbits — rocks that have enough energy to escape the moon's pull should be grabbed by Earth's gravity and plummet to their doom, per a press release by the University of Arizona.

Now, a new study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Communications Earth & Environment, seems to have cracked the mystery.

An advanced computer simulation, taking into account the properties of the sun, the moon, the Earth, and all other planets in the solar system, found that some lucky moon rocks could survive being blasted away from the lunar surface, provided they follow very specific rules.

Being blasted from the moon at about 1.5 miles per second is one of these rules, lending credence to the idea that this satellite was created by the impact of a meteorite.

An artist illustration show the spray that would be caused by a meteorite hitting the surface of the moon.


An artist's illustration represents the impact of a meteorite on the surface of the moon.NASA

The finding could change where we think potentially dangerous space rocks come from
Scientists are constantly monitoring the skies for potentially dangerous space rocks — but they are very aware of their limitations.

Some of the smaller rocks, for instance, can fly under the radar. Others can be occluded by the sun, which blinds the equipment we use to scan the universe for potential threats.

So to predict where the rocks may appear, scientists calculate how these rocks move through space from their most likely origin. These are usually thought to be the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter or in the Kuiper belt in the outer solar system.

"This brings up the need to consider other origin scenarios, in particular, that it may have originated as a lunar fragment from a meteoroid impact on the moon," said study author Jose Daniel Castro-Cisneros, a PhD student at the University of Arizona, in a blog post.

Space rocks like these also provide rare snapshots into the past of our solar system.

Because of its stable orbit around the Earth, it may be worth thinking about sending a mission to Kamoʻoalewa to understand more about our longtime neighbor, said Castro Cisneros.

Japan's iSpace HAKUTO-R lander captured an image of Earth during a recent solar eclipse from the lunar surface.

Japan's iSpace HAKUTO-R lander captured an image of Earth during a recent solar eclipse from the lunar surface.

When and where to see the Cold Moon, the longest and last full moon of 2023
CBS News | ALIZA CHASAN
Updated December 25, 2023 at 7:57 AM

The longest — and last — full moon of the year will appear on Monday night and peak on Tuesday.

December's full moon, also known as the Cold Moon and Long Night Moon, will reach peak illumination at 7:33 p.m. ET on Tuesday, according to NASA. It will look like a full moon until Thursday morning. The Old Farmer's Almanac details specific moonrise times for different ZIP codes across the United States.



To view the full moon, it's not rocket science: NASA recommends going outside and looking up at the sky. Using a telescope or binoculars will magnify the moon and clarify details on its surface.

Where does December's full moon get its name from?

December's full moon gets its Cold Moon moniker from Mohawk traditions, according to the Farmer's Almanac. The name is based on the frigid conditions of the time of year.

The full moon is also called the Long Night Moon because December's full moon occurs near the winter solstice, which has the longest night of the year. This year's solstice was on Dec. 21.

"The full moon takes a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite to the low sun, so the moon will be above the horizon longer than at other times of the year," according to NASA.

Other names for December's full moon include Drift Clearing Moon, Frost Exploding Trees Moon, Moon of the Popping Trees, Hoar Frost Moon, Snow Moon, Winter Maker Moon, Moon When the Deer Shed Their Antlers and Little Spirit Moon, according to the Farmer's Almanac. Ancient pagans in Europe called the December full Moon the Moon Before Yule.

Next month's full moon is dubbed the Wolf Moon. It will peak on Jan. 25.

Is the moon ever full on Christmas?

December's full moon does fall on Christmas sometimes, but it's a rare occasion. The last full moon to peak on Christmas was in 2015. Before that, there hadn't been one since 1977.

Astronomers say the next Christmas full moon won't be until 2034.