moon – Page 20 – Astronomy Now

Diverse destinations considered for new interplanetary probe

12 April 2015 Stephen Clark

Science teams from across the United States have submitted 28 proposals for missions to explore the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, touch the asteroid-like satellites orbiting Mars, visit unseen worlds and hunt for objects that could strike Earth one day.

A new view of the Moon’s formation

8 April 2015 Astronomy Now

A crucial difference in the isotopic chemical “fingerprints” of Earth and the Moon confirms an explosive, interconnected past when, within the first 150 million years after our Solar System formed, a giant body roughly the size of Mars struck the Earth.

Cassini gets our best view yet of Saturn’s moon Rhea

30 March 2015 Astronomy Now

NASA’s Cassini probe has entered a new series of orbits which bring it close to Saturn’s icy moons. It has already captured the highest resolution view yet of Rhea, Saturn’s second largest moon.

The Moon’s two-night encounter with Jupiter

29 March 2015 Ade Ashford

The waxing gibbous Moon passes close by the Solar System’s largest planet, Jupiter, on the nights of March 29th and 30th. Jupiter was at opposition last month, but it’s still big, bright and offers much to see in a telescope.

See the crescent Moon glide through Taurus over two nights

24 March 2015 Ade Ashford

As twilight fades to dark on the evenings of March 24th and 25th, observers in the British Isles can see the waxing crescent Moon’s passage through Taurus, passing some of the constellation’s highlights.

A 2-day-old crescent Moon meets Venus in the evening sky

22 March 2015 Ade Ashford

Nearly 60 hours after its starring rôle in Friday morning’s spectacle, the crescent Moon has an attractive conjunction with planet Venus, the second brightest nighttime body, low to the west at dusk on Sunday, March 22nd.

Can you find a shy sliver of the Moon after its starring role in the eclipse?

21 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Just a day after producing a spectacular solar eclipse over the North Atlantic and Arctic, the Moon is making a more subtle return to our evening sky just after sunset. See if you can see a sliver of the New Moon this evening.

Clouds fail to spoil the eclipse party

20 March 2015 Keith Cooper

While clouds did their best to obscure the solar eclipse, many observers have still been able to witness the Moon moving in front of the Sun.

Your minute-by-minute solar eclipse timeline for the British Isles

18 March 2015 Ade Ashford

If you wish to see in detail how the eclipse will appear from where you live and the exact times that the key stages will occur, we’ve prepared this specially illustrated minute-by-minute timeline to how Friday’s big event will roll out over the British Isles.

Moon impact! NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter finds new craters

17 March 2015 Astronomy Now

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.