Where's Saturn? Is that a UFO--or the ISS? What's the name of that
star? Get the answers from mySKY--a
fun new astronomy helper from Meade. FLYING
MOONDUST: New research by NASA scientists
shows that moondust kicked up by the jets of lunar landers can go
on a fantastic journey, completely circling the Moon before settling
back to the ground. This interesting phenomenon may affect the planning
of lunar outposts and other activities as NASA prepares its return
to the Moon: full
story.
MOON WRITING: What
do you do with a glaring light in the night sky? Write! "I
wanted to take a special photo of tonight's full Moon," explains
Saied Bahrami Nezhad of
Kerman, Iran. "I started with a quick flash to expose the trees.
Then, with the shutter of my Canon
400D held open, I slowly moved the camera and used the Moon
to write 'space weather.'"
"It was hard but enjoyable," he says. A tip for other
moonwriters: The entire message took 54 seconds to compose with
the camera set at ISO 100. Try it!
more images: from
Michel Hersen of Portland, Oregon; from
Anthony Arrigo of Park City, Utah; from
Claus Vogel of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, Canada; from
P-M Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden; from
Eric Walker of Conon Bridge, Highlands, Scotland; from
Dave Eagle of Higham Ferrers, Northants. England;
MOON MIRAGE: This
weekend, Mila
Zinkova saw something disturbing on the western horizon of San
Francisco Bay--a fiery mushroom cloud! On closer inspection, it
was only the Moon:
"This is a mock
mirage of the setting Moon," she explains. A temperature
inversion created a dim, inverted image of the Moon, which rose
up to meet the real Moon as it set. Together, the two moons combined
to make a "mushroom cloud." Sometimes mock mirages like
this one end with a beautiful green
flash, but on this evening "the horizon was not clear enough
to see the green," she says.
A note to California photographers: Cool offshore
currents combined with warm Santa Ana winds are creating conditions
favorable for mirages. This is a good week to go to the beach and
watch the Sun and Moon set.
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