Archive
Ephemeris: 11/08/2024 – The Jade Rabbit on the Moon
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Friday, November 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 50 minutes, setting at 5:21, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:32. The Moon, 1 day before first quarter, will set at 11:24 this evening.
Tonight’s Moon is just a few hours before the instant of first quarter which is officially at 12:56 tomorrow morning. The ancient Chinese saw in the gray areas of the Moon, we call seas, a rabbit, a pet of Chinese moon goddess Chang’e, its name was Yutu. These have become the names of the Chinese lunar landers and rovers. The top half of that rabbit is visible in the gray areas called maria, or seas. Early telescopic astronomers thought they were actually water filled basins. It turned out to be lava plains, actually floors of huge craters, from asteroids that hit the Moon 4 billion years ago during the late heavy bombardment. The top body of the rabbit is at the top part of the moon it descends to the lower right with his head and ears. The rabbit is also known as the Jade Rabbit. The rest of him is visible when the moon is full. Yutu has a real presence on the Moon, as the names of the two Chinese rovers that landed on the Moon.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). Times will be different for other locations.
Addendum
Ephemeris: 06/18/2024 – Are we in a space race with China?
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 18th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:56. The Moon, 3 days before full, will set at 3:41 tomorrow morning.
Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s The United States and Russia were in a space race, attempting to outdo each other in space. The Russians had the lead to begin with. Their rockets were bigger because they were unable to miniaturize their atomic weapons. So they needed rockets large enough to launch them, and had rockets large enough, off the shelf so to speak, to be able to launch satellites and even humans into orbit. Sixty years later the old Soviet Union has disappeared and Russia is still using rocket technology that was developed in the 1960s. The Chinese however, were nowhere in the 1960s, and have now ascended to be our number one competitor in space. Considering their latest progress, China may beat us back to the Moon.
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
02/07/2023 – Ephemeris – A new view on the creation of our Moon
Feb 7. This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, February 7th. Today the Sun will be up for 10 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 5:59, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:53. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 7:58 this evening.
Is this how the Moon came to be? After the Apollo missions, NASA decided to look at the crust of the Moon which apparently is much like the Earth’s and came up to the conclusion that a Mars sized body they called Theia, after the mother of the twins Apollo and Artemis, crashed into the Earth at about a 45-degree angle, and caused a ring of debris around the Earth that would be maintained for a long time. In a newer simulation, the collision could actually create two blobs of material, a large one that became our Moon, in orbit, with about one percent of the Earth’s mass, and a smaller mass that fell back onto the Earth.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT –5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
A new simulation on how the Moon formed. Credit: PBS.
1/15/2021 – Ephemeris – What the Chinese Chang’e 5 lunar mission found
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Monday, November 15th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 5:14, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:41. The Moon, halfway from first quarter to full, will set at 4:45 tomorrow morning. | Late last year, the Chinese sent an uncrewed spacecraft to the Moon to collect samples of the surface material. That material is called regolith, and they drilled down at least a meter, which they returned to the Earth. An international team of geologists has been studying the material, and we have the first reports. Apparently the material they picked up was dated at 2 billion years, which is an intermediate age to the material picked up by the Apollo missions that dates either 3 billion years or older or 1 billion years. That helps fill gaps in the Moon’s history. Of course, all the material in the solar system is 4.5 billion years old. But the radioactive dating clock is reset when a rock is melted and solidifies.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Chang’e 5 Landing-Site on full moon map. Created using Virtual Mon Atlas.
12/17/2013 – Ephemeris – The Chinese have landed a rover on the Moon
Ephemeris for Tuesday, December 17th. The sun will rise at 8:14. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 5:03. The moon, at full today, will rise at 5:45 this evening.
Over the weekend the Chinese landed a spacecraft on the moon with a rover. The spacecraft was Chang’E 3 and the third of their successful lunar spacecraft. Name after an ancient moon goddess it deposited a rover named Yutu, or Jade Rabbit named for the goddess’ pet rabbit. The aim point was to be the beautiful Bay of Rainbows or Sinus Iridium, but it landed just outside it in Mare Imbrium, the Sea of Showers. Some astronomers think that the actual landing spot is more interesting mineralogically speaking than the original aim point. Both Chang’E and Yutu are solar powered and it’s difficult to see them surviving the two-week lunar night, Night will fall on the site on December 25th or 26th. Give the Chinese credit though for a flawless landing.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Chang’E 3 as seen from the Yutu rover. There’s a lot more pictures and information from Emily Lakdawalla’s Planetary Society Blog, where I got this picture link from.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 