As the Earth revolves around the Sun, and the Moon revolves around the Earth, it happens sometimes that all three fall into alignment. When this happens at New Moon, the Moon covers up the Sun in our skies, and we have a Solar Eclipse. It is an interesting coincidence that both the Moon and the Sun appear to be the same size in the sky, since both their actual sizes and their distances from earth are radically different, but this … Continue reading →
An urban astronomer has low standards by necessity, so getting started is both cheap and easy. The first thing you need is somewhere to do your stargazing. Go into your garden, and find a spot where you have a reasonably unobstructed view of the sky, and the minimum number of lights shining on you. Congratulations, you now have your viewing spot, and can start without reading further. Next you will need to get some equipment. You’ll need some sort of … Continue reading →
A Dry Moon On 13 November 2009, the LCROSS mission put out a press release announcing that they had found water on the moon. This caused quite a stir and was picked up by many newspapers, as we had always understood the moon to be a fantastically dry and arid place. What did this new discovery mean? How embarrassing for all those science teachers who’d taught that there was no water to be found on the moon! However, the … Continue reading →
