This Crazy Cosmos » moon http://www.mikiesoft.net Astronomy & Space Exploration Sun, 25 Apr 2010 05:15:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Moon Venus Conjunction http://www.mikiesoft.net/moon-venus-conjunction/ http://www.mikiesoft.net/moon-venus-conjunction/#comments Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:57:35 +0000 Mike http://www.mikiesoft.net/?p=156 Did you see how close the planet Venus was to the moon last night?  Suspended in the night sky, the pair was strikingly beautiful.   It took my mind off the fact I couldn’t locate Comet Lulin, which was probably lost in the light pollution of the city lights.

spaceweather.com posted some great pictures of last night’s conjunction between Venus and the crescent moon.  The site also has a stunning photo of the green comet streaking by the blue star Regulus in the constellation Leo.

]]> http://www.mikiesoft.net/moon-venus-conjunction/feed/ 0 Venus & the Moon Ring in 2009 http://www.mikiesoft.net/venus-the-moon-ring-in-2009/ http://www.mikiesoft.net/venus-the-moon-ring-in-2009/#comments Thu, 01 Jan 2009 06:37:19 +0000 Mike http://www.mikiesoft.net/?p=151 Planet Venus was brilliant last night as it hung just below the crescent moon.  You could briefly seen this jeweled pairing in the early evening sky as New Year’s Eve drew to a close.  If you had a clear horizon right after sunset, you might have seen Jupiter shining brightly right next to Mercury, much smaller and dimmer, but those planets were side by side last night too.  More info at earthsky.org/skywatching

A really beautiful celestial show to ring in the New Year.  Happy 2009, and Thanks for reading this blog!

Mike @ ThisCrazyCosmos

]]> http://www.mikiesoft.net/venus-the-moon-ring-in-2009/feed/ 0 DVD: In the Shadow of the Moon http://www.mikiesoft.net/dvd-in-the-shadow-of-the-moon/ http://www.mikiesoft.net/dvd-in-the-shadow-of-the-moon/#comments Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:02:34 +0000 Mike http://www.mikiesoft.net/2008/02/dvd-in-the-shadow-of-the-moon.html There’s a new DVD coming out on March 15th, that documents NASA’s Apollo missions to the moon. It sounds interesting because it combines archived film footage with recent interviews of the astronauts, giving the project a historical view with the human element and emotional impact.

The DVD, titled In the Shadow of the Moon, is a film directed by Ron Howard that was just released last year.   DVD link to amazon.com

Here’s the official product description from amazon.com:
IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON is an intimate epic, which vividly communicates the daring and the danger, the pride and the passion, of this extraordinary era in American history. Between 1968 and 1972, the world watched in awe each time an American spacecraft voyaged to the Moon. Only 12 American men walked upon it’s surface and they remain the only human beings to have stood on another world.

Now for the first, and very possibly the last time, IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON combines archival material from the original NASA film footage, much of it never before seen, with interviews with the surviving astronauts, including Jim Lovell (Apollo 8 and 13), Dave Scott (Apollo 9 and 15), John Young (Apollo 10 and 16), Gene Cernan (Apollo 10 and 17), Mike Collins (Apollo 11), Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), Alan Bean (Apollo 12), Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14), Charlie Duke (Apollo 16) and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17). The astronauts emerge as eloquent, witty, emotional and very human.

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