New Moon and Meteors Coming Up!

SkyandTelescope.com - This Week's Sky at a Glance - This Week's Sky at a Glance

The Geminid Meteor Shower should peak late Sunday night. Watch toward the east after 9:00 pm. It's always best to get away from city lights, if you can.

The Night Sky this Week (11/27-12/5)

SkyandTelescope.com - This Week's Sky at a Glance - This Week's Sky at a Glance

While you're watching the moon grow full this week, see if you can find some of these planets and stars.

LCROSS & Centaur Rocket Separation

The LCROSS satellite and Centaur rocket will separate at 8:40 pm CDT. You can watch a live video of the event from this link.

NASA Satellite Will Crash on the Moon!

The LCROSS satellite (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite) will crash into the moon Friday morning at 6:31 Central Time. The mission is to determine the amount of water ice in the soil at the south pole of the moon. Here's how:

The LCROSS satellite is attached to the second stage rocket that launched it. Both are on a path that will crash them into the moon. The rocket will separate from the satellite and crash, sending rock and soil upward. Any water ice in the soil will vaporize into H ions and OH ions. These will be detected by the satellite before it crashes 4 minutes later.

You can watch the impact on NASA TV on the internet.

Quakes and Tsunamis have plagued Pacific Islands

In the last two months, people living in the South Pacific have suffered strong earthquakes, tsunamis, and the threat of tsunamis. Just yesterday (October 7) a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Vanuatu, followed by on of 7.3 magnitude.

Discovery Heads to the Space Station!

After two delays this week, space shuttle Discovery is off on a 13-day mission to the International Space Station. Weather and mechanical problems postponed the launch this week.

New Photos Show Apollo 11 Landing Site!

Apollo 11 launched 40 years ago yesterday, July 16. Here are pictures of the lunar landing site taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Read this article from Space.com.

Apollo 11 Launched!

Apollo 11, the first mission to land men on the moon, launched 40 years ago today.
This photo gallery at Space.com looks back at the historic mission to the moon.

Try these videos:
Apollo 11 Overview
The Big Event

Man on the Moon - 40 Years Later

Relive each Apollo mission with video, photos and a unique animated comic. The Apollo 11 mission feature will be released on July 16, 2009.

This Week's Sky

During dawn Saturday and Sunday, the Pleiades, Mars, Aldebaran, and dazzling Venus form a mirror-reversed letter "L" in the east during early dawn, as shown at right. And the waning crescent Moon comes passing through.

Science This Summer!

Get a little dose of science this summer by checking this blog regularly.