This graphic represents the view due east at 7pm GMT on Christmas Day 2015 as seen from the centre of the British Isles, about an hour after full darkness has descended. The rising full Moon lies in the constellation Gemini, just above magnitude +1.9 star γ Geminorum, otherwise known as Alhena. This is the first time since 1977 that a full Moon has fallen on 25 December and the next time it occurs is 2034, so hopefully it will be clear! AN graphic by Ade Ashford.December’s full Moon, the last of the year, is called the Full Cold Moon because it occurs during the beginning of winter. The instant that this month’s full lunar phase will occur is 11:11am GMT and it will rise at 4:32pm GMT as seen from the centre of the British Isles.
As you gaze up at the Christmas Moon, take note that NASA has a spacecraft currently orbiting Earth’s only natural satellite. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission has been investigating the Moon’s surface since 2009.How the Moon will appear on 25 December 2015. Image credits: NASA/Goddard/Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.“As we look at the Moon on such an occasion, it’s worth remembering that the Moon is more than just a celestial neighbour,” said John Keller, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The geologic history of the Moon and Earth are intimately tied together such that the Earth would be a dramatically different planet without the Moon.”
LRO has collected a treasure trove of data with its seven powerful instruments, making an invaluable contribution to our knowledge about the Moon.
NASA’S Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has spied a new crater on the lunar surface; one made from the impact of NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission.
Using data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and other facilities, an international team has found the first gamma-ray binary in another galaxy and the most luminous one ever seen. The dual-star system, dubbed LMC P3, contains a massive star and a crushed stellar core that interact to produce a cyclic flood of gamma rays.
On 17th March 2013, an object hit the Moon’s surface in Mare Imbrium and exploded in a flash of light nearly 10 times as bright as anything ever recorded before. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has found the new 19-metre-wide crater plus more than two-dozen others.
