This month has brought lots of fun space events, including two full moons in a month, new views from a recent fly-by of Jupiter, and Mars in opposition. Check out some of the cool videos and space-gazing opportunities happening this October!
Two Full Moons & A Super New Moon in a Month
As it turns out, “once in a Blue Moon” actually happens fairly frequently by Earth standards – typically once every 2-3 years. A “Blue Moon” is simply the second Full Moon in a month, and has nothing to do with the actual colour of the Moon. We had the Full Harvest Moon on October 1st, which is named for being the Full Moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox, and we have one more upcoming the Full Hunter’s Moon this Halloween on October 31st. So, don’t be surprised if you see a few more werewolves on your Halloween haunts. As well, there is a Super New Moon on October 16th, which is where a New Moon will be closest to Earth. Here’s a snap of the October 1st Full Moon I took by balancing my iPhone camera over the eye of my telescope.
Juno Views of Jupiter
A citizen scientist, Kevin Gill, recently stitched together photos taken by the Juno spacecraft on June 2, 2020 from its 27th close flyby of Jupiter. Basically, there looks to be a whole planet made of coffee and cream. Skip to 2:25 mins for a view of the Great Red Spot, which is 1.3x the size of Earth, and gives you a good impression of just how incredibly massive Jupiter is.
Mars is on the Money
If you get a clear night, look up at Mars, which is the closest it will be to Earth until 2035. (Although, if you saw it in 2003, it won’t be as close as it was then until August 28, 2287…so make your deals with the Devil now.) On October 13th, Mars will officially reach opposition, and maximum brightness in the sky. The other night I looked up at the Moon and Mars, which were aligned within 1-2 degrees of each other, and realized I was essentially looking at the prospective NASA flightplan, with humans set to return to the Moon, and then, supposedly, to Mars. Glance skyward at the Red Planet, and give a binary salute (0110) to the dead and dying rovers strewn between its poles.
How to Land a Space Shuttle
I recently stumbled upon this VERY entertaining video, put together by another citizen Space Fan™ Bret Copeland, about how the Space Shuttle landed. A lot of people don’t realize that the Space Shuttle was only a glider on descent, and had just ONE SHOT to land. The Space Shuttle’s angle of descent was 7x that of a commercial aircraft. To grasp onto what that means, that’s like your plane going from its normal cruising altitude of 35,000 ft to ON THE RUNWAY in just 3 minutes. Have a watch for a hilarious and insightful look at how humans went from space to soil in just over an hour.
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