Dec 19
Tags: astronomers, binocular, chabot planetarium, lunar, monday eclipse, moon
If rain, clouds or fog don’t obscure the midnight sky Monday night, a dramatic total eclipse of the moon will be well worth staying up late to watch – in the Bay Area and across the nation.
Lunar eclipses are by no means uncommon, but during this one the moon will be high in the sky, so it should be easily observable from everywhere, said Andrew Fraknoi, chairman of astronomy at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills.
“It’s a really democratic event,” he said, “because you don’t need an expensive telescope or any other sophisticated equipment to enjoy the spectacle – just your eyes or, if you like, a pair of binoculars.”
Read here
Dec 03
Tags: crescent moon, jupiter, moon, planets, smiling sky, venus
Astronomers and stargazers have been watching a rare astronomical phenomenon.
Jupiter and Venus are in conjunction and lie just two degrees apart, so lucky skygazers will be able to see the two planets getting closer.
At the same time, the crescent Moon will eclipse Venus and, if you watch the Moon at sunset through binoculars, you will see an occultation of Venus by the Moon. The planet will seem to disappear as the dark limb of the Moon passes over it.
More on BBC News
Aug 28
Tags: lunar, moon, moon owner, outer space treaty, space
Within the next 10 years, the U.S., China, Israel, and a host of private companies plan to set up camp on the moon. So if and when they plant a flag, does that give them property rights?
A NASA working group hosted a discussion this week to ask: Who owns the moon? The answer, of course, is no one. The Outer Space Treaty, the international law signed by more than 100 countries, states that the moon and other celestial bodies are the province of all mankind. No doubt that would irk all of the people throughout the ages, like monks from the Middle Ages, who have tried to claim the moon was theirs.
But ownership is different from property rights. People who rent apartments, for example, don’t own where they live, but they still hold rights. So with all of the upcoming missions to visit the moon and beyond, space industry thought leaders are seriously asking themselves how to deal with a potential land rush, cowboy-style.
Full article at tech.msn.com.
