Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, May 4th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 22 minutes, setting at 8:51, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:27. The Moon, 1 day before full, will set at 6:18 tomorrow morning.

The Moon appears to be bone dry. The Apollo astronauts found no rocks with any water in them, or bound to them chemically. However, remote sensing satellites and an infrared flying observatory have detected hints that water does indeed exist on the Moon. Indeed, water would be worth its weight in gold if discovered there. The South Pole of the Moon has permanently shadowed craters which seem to have water ice in them. Recently the, since decommissioned, SOFIA aircraft, sporting an infrared telescope detected water on the daytime side of the Moon, in quantities, to mix units of measurement, 12 ounces of water per cubic meter of soil in the crater Clavius. It’s a large crater in the Southern Hemisphere of the Moon, and incidentally one of my favorite craters.

Also, recently, the Chinese Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission detected water in the tiny glass beads that were part of the soil it brought back. The beads were the result of meteorite impacts. Maybe NASA might have another look at the lunar soil the Apollo astronauts brought back.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). 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.

Closeup of Clavius from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/LRO.