Kayla wants the Moon, but can’t get it. But that’s okay, because we live on a planet full of wonderful people. Here’s the story: Every day, 2-year-old Kayla and her Dad go through the same routine. Kayla loves the Moon, and she wants it. But it’s too far away. Kayla’s dad took an adorable video of one of these attempts and posted it to Reddit along with the details of her lunar love.  The result? Someone who works at NASA invited them to come visit and check out how close people really can get to space. I think Kayla’s gonna do great things. Keep reaching for the Moon, guys. You never know what you might find! :)
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Kayla wants the Moon, but can’t get it. But that’s okay, because we live on a planet full of wonderful people. Here’s the story: Every day, 2-year-old Kayla and her Dad go through the same routine. Kayla loves the Moon, and she wants it. But it’s too far away. Kayla’s dad took an adorable video of one of these attempts and posted it to Reddit along with the details of her lunar love.  The result? Someone who works at NASA invited them to come visit and check out how close people really can get to space. I think Kayla’s gonna do great things. Keep reaching for the Moon, guys. You never know what you might find! :)
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Kayla wants the Moon, but can’t get it.

But that’s okay, because we live on a planet full of wonderful people. Here’s the story:

Every day, 2-year-old Kayla and her Dad go through the same routine. Kayla loves the Moon, and she wants it. But it’s too far away. Kayla’s dad took an adorable video of one of these attempts and posted it to Reddit along with the details of her lunar love. 

The result? Someone who works at NASA invited them to come visit and check out how close people really can get to space. I think Kayla’s gonna do great things.

Keep reaching for the Moon, guys. You never know what you might find! :)

The continental U.S. overlaid on the Moon, for your daily dose of perspective. Whoa. Compare the size of the craters to our biggest cities! To take your dose of perspective to the next level, check out this video from Veritasium on just how far away the Moon is from the Earth (Hint: Much farther than most people think): (via io9)
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The continental U.S. overlaid on the Moon, for your daily dose of perspective. Whoa. Compare the size of the craters to our biggest cities!

To take your dose of perspective to the next level, check out this video from Veritasium on just how far away the Moon is from the Earth (Hint: Much farther than most people think):

(via io9)

Source: io9.com

Rising Shadows

Have you ever noticed how seemingly enormous the Moon looks as it rises over the horizon? Each day, as our lunar satellite makes its journey through the sky (although that is mostly due to our daily revolution) it rises just under an hour later than the previous day (as it makes its regular orbit around us every 28 days).

During this daily rise, the “moon illusion” becomes apparent, a glowing disk that seems closer to us for a time than when it’s hanging high in the sky. The reason for this illusion is still under a bit of debate, but check out this video from ASAP Science for a nice explanation. Of course, the Moon is always the same distance away, and its swollen appearance is merely our brain playing tricks on us.

Because we know the precise orbit of our nocturnal orb, Mark Gee was able to position himself across from New Zealand’s Mount Victoria lookout (two kilometers away!), aim his camera, and capture the rising disk as it silhouettes watchers of the night.

This is not a time-lapse. This is a moon rise in real time, giving us an illusion of size and showcasing the reality of our beautiful night sky. No matter how many moons you’ve lived, they still impress, no? Simply amazing.

Astute observers in the northern hemisphere (where I live) will note that the Moon looks flipped on its head from our normal view. This is because people in New Zealand live upside-down, and look at their own version of the Moon :) 

(via APOD)

Source: apod.nasa.gov

Rollin’ through tha craters, haters see ya later, my lunar rover gets mileage that would please Ralph Nader … If you haven’t seen these lunar rover “Grand Prix” clips from NASA, I highly recommend checkin’ them out. Because you’ve always wanted a driver’s-eye view of the lunar surface! So. Amazing. Try and hold back your compliments on my amazing lyrical skills.
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Rollin’ through tha craters, haters see ya later, my lunar rover gets mileage that would please Ralph Nader …

If you haven’t seen these lunar rover “Grand Prix” clips from NASA, I highly recommend checkin’ them out. Because you’ve always wanted a driver’s-eye view of the lunar surface! So. Amazing.

Try and hold back your compliments on my amazing lyrical skills.

Logarithmic Astronomy What a photo! If you looked to the skies last night (January 21st), you may have noticed a bright point of light nearly on top of the Moon. That was Jupiter! Last night was the closest they will come (an event called “conjunction”) until 2026. Their nearly intersecting “paths” through the sky are only due to our Earthly perspective, of course. Many things in the night sky will appear next to each other if we just wait long enough. What’s especially cool about this photograph is that it captures three levels of astronomical complexity in one image. First we have our terrestrial satellite, Luna, with the “terminator” line of day/night stretched across a large, dark volcanic plain known as the “Ocean of Storms”, which is an awesome name for a volcanic plain. The next brightest image is Jupiter, our solar system’s largest planet/failed star. And those dots around Jupiter? Those are three of its Galilean moons! The photographer’s Facebook page says there’s four moons of Jupiter in this shot, but I only see three. If we are seeing them in their increasing distance from Jupiter (and that’s a big if, since perspective can play tricks on us), they are probably Io, Europa, and Ganymede. It’s like peeling back the layers of an astronomical onion, in a single photo. Great work by Chris Levitan, check out his Facebook page.
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Logarithmic Astronomy

What a photo! If you looked to the skies last night (January 21st), you may have noticed a bright point of light nearly on top of the Moon. That was Jupiter! Last night was the closest they will come (an event called “conjunction”) until 2026.

Their nearly intersecting “paths” through the sky are only due to our Earthly perspective, of course. Many things in the night sky will appear next to each other if we just wait long enough. What’s especially cool about this photograph is that it captures three levels of astronomical complexity in one image.

First we have our terrestrial satellite, Luna, with the “terminator” line of day/night stretched across a large, dark volcanic plain known as the “Ocean of Storms”, which is an awesome name for a volcanic plain. The next brightest image is Jupiter, our solar system’s largest planet/failed star. And those dots around Jupiter? Those are three of its Galilean moons! The photographer’s Facebook page says there’s four moons of Jupiter in this shot, but I only see three. If we are seeing them in their increasing distance from Jupiter (and that’s a big if, since perspective can play tricks on us), they are probably Io, Europa, and Ganymede.

It’s like peeling back the layers of an astronomical onion, in a single photo. Great work by Chris Levitan, check out his Facebook page.

NASA Beams Mona Lisa to the Moon Because Lasers Using a new kind of laser communication device, NASA transmitted an image of the Mona Lisa to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a 240,000 mile broadcast. Communicating from Earth across great distances in space can difficult because of signal loss and distortion by the atmosphere. Radio waves work pretty well, but lasers can serve as a backup and possibly carry even more information than previous methods. It isn’t faster, because the speed of light is the speed of light, but it has potential to be more useful. Can you imagine a deep space network of space laser broadband? It’s like Star Trek! 
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NASA Beams Mona Lisa to the Moon Because Lasers Using a new kind of laser communication device, NASA transmitted an image of the Mona Lisa to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a 240,000 mile broadcast. Communicating from Earth across great distances in space can difficult because of signal loss and distortion by the atmosphere. Radio waves work pretty well, but lasers can serve as a backup and possibly carry even more information than previous methods. It isn’t faster, because the speed of light is the speed of light, but it has potential to be more useful. Can you imagine a deep space network of space laser broadband? It’s like Star Trek! 
Zoom Info

NASA Beams Mona Lisa to the Moon Because Lasers

Using a new kind of laser communication device, NASA transmitted an image of the Mona Lisa to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a 240,000 mile broadcast. Communicating from Earth across great distances in space can difficult because of signal loss and distortion by the atmosphere. Radio waves work pretty well, but lasers can serve as a backup and possibly carry even more information than previous methods. It isn’t faster, because the speed of light is the speed of light, but it has potential to be more useful.

Can you imagine a deep space network of space laser broadband? It’s like Star Trek! 

Buzzing the Moon

NASA’s twin GRAIL spacecraft, Ebb and Flow, crashed into the Moon recently. Their fuel was exhausted, their mission to map lunar gravity complete. Fare thee well, fine ships. The video above is a view of their final days, skimming a mere 6 miles above the gorgeous lunar surface. I’m jealous. 

“You are go for fly-by, GRAIL. The pattern is not full.”

The two spacecraft orbited our rocky satellite, one lagging behind the other, sensing slight fluctuations in each other’s orbits caused by slight differences in the Moon’s gravity. For instance one passed over a spot with slightly stronger pull, it would dip ever so slightly. Communicating via microwaves, the other spacecraft would sense that dip. And so they flew, bobbing and weaving and mapping.

Technically, the Earth and the Moon aren’t perfect spheres. However, for all intents and purposes we can pretend they are, as they are certainly more perfectly round than a billiard ball. The Earth actually bulges slightly in the middle from the tug of the Moon’s gravity, like a tectonic high tide.

We know that everything with mass exerts gravity. Even the coffee cup currently next to me is pulling me toward it, and I’m pulling it toward me, however infinitesimally imperceptible that pull may be. Actually, that tug might be because I need coffee, but you get the idea. What most people don’t realize is that objects like the Earth and Moon don’t have evenly distributed mass, and likewise don’t have completely even gravity.

Everywhere on the Moon that there’s slightly denser, heavier rock, there’s slightly more gravity exerted above that spot. The GRAIL mission mapped the Moon’s blips and bulges in the greatest detail ever, giving us this abstract-art-like map:

If you want to read more about Earth’s lumpy gravity, check out this post by Phil Plait.