10/26/2020 – Ephemeris – Why does everyone want to go to the Moon’s south pole?
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Monday, October 26th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 6:39, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:14. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 4:01 tomorrow morning.
Why are the United States and other countries interested in the south pole of the Moon? Two reasons: Water and power. The Moon’s axial tilt to the Earth’s orbit is only a degree and a half. And I’ve seen a mountain peak at the south pole of the Moon sticking out in sunlight in a telescope on a crescent moon, with black all around it. While most of the Moon gets two weeks of daylight and another two of night, that peak is probably always in sunlight. And on the Moon there’s no atmosphere to diminish the strength of the Sun when its low in the sky. And there’s the floors of craters that have never seen the Sun where water ice and other volatile compounds from comets have collected over the eons.
The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The south pole of the Moon where the presence of water ice is detected by the absorption of neutrons by the hydrogen atoms in the ice. Credit NASA/GSFC/SVS/Roscosmos.
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