Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 10th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 47 minutes, setting at 8:03, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:16. The Moon, 4 days before full, will set at 4:29 tomorrow morning.

On July 22nd the Indian Space Research Organization ISRO launched Chandrayaan-2, their second mission to the Moon. India’s Chandrayaan-1 was a lunar orbiter launched 11 years ago. Chandrayaan-2 is much more ambitious spacecraft with an orbiter, a lander with a rover. Last Friday the lander attempted to land within 30 degrees of the Moon’s south pole. Unfortunately contact was lost when the lander was only 2.1 kilometers above the lunar surface. The last data received suggests that the lander’s vertical speed was excessive, and that it likely crashed on the lunar surface. This is the second failed lunar landing attempt this year after the Israeli Beresheet failure in April.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Chanrrayaan’s Vikram lander and Pragyan rover. before launch. The orbiter, not shown, is expected to have a 7 year life. The orbiter has viewed the landing site and has shown that the lander is in one piece. Credit ISRO.