Astro Unit 3                       The Moon                  

AT A LUNAR ECLIPSE
By Thomas Hardy

Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea,
Now steals along upon the Moon's meek shine
In even monochrome and curving line
Of imperturbable serenity.

How shall I link such sun-cast symmetry
With the torn troubled form I know as thine,
That profile, placid as a brow divine,
With continents of moil and misery?

And can immense Mortality but throw
So small a shade, and Heaven's high human scheme
Be hemmed within the coasts yon arc implies?

Is such the stellar gauge of earthly show,
Nation at war with nation, brains that teem,
Heroes, and women fairer than the skies?

Orion orbits the moon

       The Orion Crew Vehicle, credit Lockheed Martin.


Net Links

These links contain useful

 explanations and reviews  --->

 


 I got to play with moon rocks when I visited the Lunar and Planetary Labs in Houston, TX.

 

NASA Constellation Project overview

NASA Return to the Moon Trailer video

Ares Rockets video and webpage.

Orion crew vehicle

Future lunar rover designs

New lunar electric rovers and more vehicle designs.

Future U.S. Lunar Exploration

Moon Powerpoint link

Sidereal vs. synodic months

Colonizing the moon video (we saw this in class).

The Physical Moon

Formation of the Moon video (seen in class).

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and LCROSS

 

This was among the first images returned from the Mercury flyby on October 6.   It reveals some parts of Mercury's surface that have never before been imaged.

Notice the longitudinal hemispheric pattern of rays!

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
 

Link to the optional second journal for this week:  vote for the Conrad Awards Spirit of Innovation winners!
 

What's Up?

Enter the NASA Art contest.

Sky Online  - This site is updated often with information of interest to amateur sky watchers.  Check out the News Bulletin, and What’s Up in the Sky.

Spaceweather.com -  Great site for near Earth asteroids, meteor showers and visible comets.

Space.com is another great source of astronomy current events.

Hubble-on-the-Go will deliver HST news and images to your e-mail, cell phone or PDA.  Sign up for your choice here.
 

Reading Topics:
Physical Moon
Motions of the Moon
Lunar Geology
Asteroids
Meteoroids and Impact Craters

Text pages:
White                                 Black
                  118-120, 127               146-47, 154-55, 161-63
        17-19                                    13-16, 124
        120-121, 131, 139-143            147-51      
       108-111                                  228-230
                  115-120                                138-40, 237-240
Lunar surface feature locator

The Top Ten Lunar Discoveries from Apollo

Cruithne: Co-orbital object of Earth

Animations of 2002AA29  and   Here are more!

Near Earth Asteroids

Names of Full Moons

What is a Blue Moon? 

Global impact crater map of Earth.

Volcanism on the Moon

Clementine Images of the Moon

Future lunar eclipses

Moon Facts and Links

Is the Moon burping?
 

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

The buried Chicxulub impact crater is believed to have been created by the giant asteroid impact that caused the dinosaurs to become extinct. This image is reconstructed from gravity and magnetic field data of the region.
Photo credit:   V.L. Sharpton, LPI