View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Chuck Reinhart captured this starry scene from Vincennes, Indiana, on November 1, 2024. Thank you, Chuck! On December 30-31, 2024, we’ll have what some call a Black Moon. On that evening, the moon won’t be visible because it’s a new moon, the 2nd new moon of a month: voila! … Read more
From an occultation of Mars to conjunctions with Venus and Jupiter, the moon will be involved in a bevy of spectacular events in 2025, and it will appear at its biggest and brightest since 2019. Here are some dates for this year’s moon-gazing diary. If you’re looking for some skywatching gear to make the most … Read more
December 2024 will see a rare “black moon,” a term for the second new moon in a calendar month. The second new moon of December will occur at 5:27 p.m. ET (2227 GMT) on Dec. 30, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory, two days after the waning moon passes by Mercury in the predawn sky. … Read more
For better or for worse, a small part of the Apollo 11 spacecraft will now be Jon Mesick’s to have and to hold for all the days of his life. The strip of golden thermal polyimide tape, which made the trip to the moon with the first astronauts to land there in 1969, is now … Read more
NASA’s first two crewed Artemis moon missions have been pushed back to 2026 and 2027, respectively, and the move could have big ramifications for the agency’s Artemis program and competition with China for leadership in space. Artemis 2, which will send a crew of three Americans and a Canadian astronaut around the moon, was due … Read more
View larger. | This elevation map depicts the South Pole-Aitken basin on the moon. It is the moon’s largest crater. The lowest regions are in blue and purple. A new study suggested the crater is more circular in shape than scientists previously thought. Image via NASA/ GSFC/ University of Arizona. The South Pole-Aitken basin is … Read more
Firefly Aerospace’s first mission to the moon is nearly ready to fly. The company’s Blue Ghost lunar lander arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Monday (Dec. 16) for integration with the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will launch the robotic probe — as well as the private Japanese moon lander Resilience … Read more
Current theories of the Moon’s formation favor both the Earth and Moon forming from the debris created by the collision of a Mars-sized world with the proto-Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. New research, however, suggests that the Moon later underwent a second melting event that reset the apparent age of many geological samples. Credit: … Read more
It is robotic moon machinery on steroids. Tagged as the Endurance sample return mission, it would collect bits and pieces from key lunar locations for later retrieval by future astronauts in NASA’s Artemis program. Furthermore, high-value collectibles snagged from those distant spots would be hauled back to Earth by astronauts. NASA has begun blueprinting the … Read more
If the weather is clear where you live on Tuesday evening (Dec. 17), look low above the east-northeast horizon at around 8:00 p.m. local standard time and you’ll see the waning gibbous moon, 89% illuminated, accompanied by a very bright and colorful star directly below it and two bright stars will above it. The two … Read more