NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned its first images of the Apollo moon landing sites. The spacecraft’s onboard camera photographed Lunar Module descent stages at five of the six Apollo sites—11, 14, 15, 16, and 17. The Apollo 12 site will be photographed in coming weeks. [more inside]
posted by prinado on Jul 17, 2009 - 38 comments

I's a Baby Baboon, with a bassoon on the moon. Flash Friday Weebl's!
posted by mikoroshi on Jun 12, 2009 - 26 comments

How the Moon Became a Trash Can. [more inside]
posted by gman on May 14, 2009 - 65 comments

Once dubbed the Picture of the Century, the first Earthrise, photographed in 1966 by NASA's Lunar Orbiter 1, presented "a stunning juxtaposition of planet and moon that no earthling had ever seen before." After initially inspiring awe, the original image was almost destroyed. In the mad rush of the space race, the pictures and data from early missions were warehoused and forgotten. Many at NASA believed that the original high-resolution images, stored on fragile tapes that could only be read by obsolete equipment, would be nearly impossible to retrieve, but one woman was determined to see them restored. Via.
posted by amyms on Mar 26, 2009 - 37 comments

Has man really set foot on the moon? There have certainly been a lot of claims that the whole Apollo missions were one giant hoax. Adam and Jamie at Mythbusters examine the claims of the Hoax Believers one by one. Did they use a wire rig or slow down the film to simulate the 1/6 moon gravity? What would it look like in real 1/6 G? Would a footprint in the lunar regolith have maintained it's shape even if there was no moisture to keep the material together? Why was the flag waving so much if there was no wind on the moon? Why are the shadows on the moon not parallel if they are coming from a single light source? Why can we see the astronauts when they are in shadows if there isn't a second light source? To finish it all off they shoot a laser at the moon to see if the reflector they supposedly left there is actually there.
posted by Sir Mildred Pierce on Dec 18, 2008 - 105 comments

"India on Wednesday became the sixth nation to launch a moon mission when indigenously built PSLV-C11 rocket blasted off from the spaceport here carrying with it Chandrayaan-I, which will map the lunar surface." For India, The Future Is Here. [more inside]
posted by ageispolis on Oct 22, 2008 - 38 comments

We're making another effort to find water on the moon. Beginning in 1964 with the Ranger spacecraft, we've been lobbing things at poor old Luna. Lately we've been trying to find water there so that future explorers don't have to haul the stuff up the gravity well from Earth. [more inside]
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit on Feb 27, 2008 - 25 comments

HD video of the moon (from relatively close!) [via]
posted by brundlefly on Nov 8, 2007 - 18 comments

The Abysmal.
posted by hama7 on Aug 6, 2007 - 17 comments

Lunar Eclipse The first lunar eclipse of 2007. Can you see it? Pretty... but also previously. Put your thinking caps on.
posted by fluffycreature on Feb 13, 2007 - 6 comments

A hoop, to draw the Earth's shadow: illustrating yesterday's partial lunar eclipse with a hoop and some creative camera positioning. Start here and work your way towards the painter. Via Spaceweather. More photos of the eclipse on Flickr.
posted by brownpau on Sep 8, 2006 - 4 comments

A total lunar eclipse will be seen Saturday night, November 8 in the Americas and early the next morning in Europe and elsewhere.
posted by the fire you left me on Nov 6, 2003 - 5 comments

Lunar gardening is the oldest form of gardening known to man, the practice centers on the moon's gravitational effect on the flow of moisture in soil and plants and, to a lesser degree, the effect of moonlight on seed germination. "I've got a large area in potatoes. We've got some planted at the right time of the moon and some crops at the wrong time of the moon. The difference is so obvious and there for everybody to see"
posted by stbalbach on Jul 17, 2003 - 11 comments

Van Gogh's Moon Shines Again This Weekend If you go out this Sunday evening and look up at the Moon, you will see not only our closest celestial neighbor, but a piece of art history as well. The rising full moon will appear exactly the way it did 114 years ago, when Vincent Van Gogh captured the scene in his famous painting "Moonrise.". Also learn how the moon helped date the painting.
posted by NewBornHippy on Jul 11, 2003 - 12 comments

Ever wonder about the Islamic Calendar? finishing up the month of Rajab about Oct 16 "The number of months with Allah has been twelve months by Allah's ordinance since the day He created the heavens and the earth. Of these four are known as sacred" (Holy Quran, ch., v 36)Muharram, Rajab, Dhul Qadah and Dhul Hijja are considered to be sacred months. Fighting during these sacred months is considered to be a sin. I am so ignorant of other cultures.
posted by redhead on Oct 12, 2001 - 7 comments

Go to the Moon Museum, install the Moon Browser, and go to the Moon.
posted by dfowler on May 14, 2001 - 0 comments