A liquid mirror telescope is made by spinning a reflective fluid, such as mercury, at a constant rate. This rotation produces a parabolic surface, which is an ideal shape for a telescope mirror. (You can try this yourself.) While these mirrors can be built to be large and orders of magnitude cheaper than solid mirrors, they have the disadvantage that they can only look straight up. Creating mirrors this way is not new; they have a history [.ps] that dates back to Newton. However, they have recently regained attention as the technology behind proposals to build an enormous (20m+) telescope on the moon. (A less technical treatment here.)
posted on Jul 1, 2008 - View this thread

In an intriguing blog entry the mysterious jasminembla muses about the man in the moon, and his relationship with thorns, linking finally to a most remarkable collection of sourced and footnoted Victorian Moon Lore authored by a Rev. Timothy Harley, 1885. In the "Man in the Moon" section, we learn that, indeed, the man in the moon has been traditionally linked with thorns, variously being exiled to the moon for stealing a bundle of brambles, strewing brambles on the path to church to hinder the pious, or cutting wood on the Sabbath, among other infractions - and that this folktale has existed since at least 1157, when an English abbot asks, in Latin, "Do you not know what the people call the rustic in the moon who carries the thorns? Whence one vulgarly speaking says, "The Rustic in the moon / Whose burden weighs him down / This changeless truth reveals / He profits not who steals." Furthermore, no less a personage than Shakespeare has mentioned the thorny situation of the poor man in the moon... and most interesting, perhaps, the rather convincing theory that the bramble-burdened man in the moon may very well be an older "Jack" of Jack and Jill fame, who did not steal, but was stolen by the moon, along with his sister.
posted on Jun 26, 2008 - View this thread

The Great Moon Hoax of 1835. During the last week of August 1835, the New York Sun published a six-part article about the discovery - purportedly by renowned astronomer Sir John Herschel - of fantastical life on the moon, including herds of bison, blue unicorns, "a primitive tribe of hut-dwelling, fire-wielding biped beavers, and a race of winged humans living in pastoral harmony around a mysterious, golden-roofed temple." The public's reaction was a mix of credulity and skepticism. Read the full text of the serialized articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.
posted on Jun 24, 2008 - View this thread

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.
posted on Feb 27, 2008 - View this thread

HD video of the moon (from relatively close!) [via]
posted on Nov 8, 2007 - View this thread

Your Personal Moon
posted on Oct 5, 2007 - View this thread

It's only a paper moon - a charming vintage photo collection. (via recogedor)
posted on Sep 21, 2007 - View this thread

Mare Tranquillitatis outside Flagstaff. "With high explosives, they terraformed a lunar surrogate right here on the surface of the earth." The excellent Pruned reports on the earth-bound moon model. USGS report.
posted on Sep 18, 2007 - View this thread

Google wants to send you to the moon.
posted on Sep 13, 2007 - View this thread

In honor of this morning's impressive lunar eclipse, another moon-photo post: For decades you had to be a scholar or specialist to get access to the original Apollo flight films, most of which have been stored in freezers at Houston's Johnson Space Center. Now Arizona State University and NASA are scanning the negatives with high-resolution equipment and creating an online digital archive of downloadable images for the general public. Here are the first few, from Apollo 15. (Similar topics previously: 1, 2, 3, 4.)
posted on Aug 28, 2007 - View this thread

Happy Blue Moon! A dear friend IM'd me today, and told me it was blue moon... which was funny, because we had just been talking about it the day before — oblivious of tonight's occurance. Don't know what a blue moon is? Well, wikipedia has the answer, of course... In the mood for a little music? Well, you can always download the The Marcels classic or just sing the song yourself with a little help... or throw caution to the wind, and listen to Pink Moon instead.
posted on May 31, 2007 - View this thread

Have you ever wondered what a solar eclipse would look like from space? The STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) has just sent back its view (awe-inspiring video included). It has also sent back some gorgeous pictures of our sun (and the McNaught Comet). For more media, check out the other galleries (including some 3D images). For more about the project, see NASA's STEREO homepage. Be sure to also stop by the Johns Hopkins University STEREO Page, where you can download a mission guide (pdf), view animations, watch a video of the launch, or even make your own papercraft STEREO model (pdf). You can also learn more in six minute segments with their series of short educational videos.
posted on Mar 13, 2007 - View this thread

How to blow up the Earth (with a coffee can), and why we should, along with some discussion of how it is done in fiction. Blowing up the moon (and how the US nearly did in 1958, with the help of Carl Sagan), and lots of reasons why, including one in song [YouTube]. How to blow up a star. How we might accidentally blow up the universe in November. [prev. discussion of Earth destruction]
posted on Feb 22, 2007 - View this thread

What Did Arthur Know … and When Did He Know it? To all you Vader haters out there . . . we'll blow your planet up! we got Death Star!
posted on Jan 11, 2007 - View this thread

If you thought the video of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon was rather blurry, it might interest you to know that this was never broadcast as well as it could have been. The original video quality was much better. You can't view the original video today, because NASA has lost the bleepin tape. Nobody seems to care, but the guys who once made the transmission possible are looking for it. An Australian minister is on their side. If the tape hasn't been accidentally degaussed, there's only one machine left that is able to read it.
posted on Jan 11, 2007 - View this thread

NASA Plans Permanent Moonbase. The base, a potential stepping stone for further Mars exploration, will likely be situated near one of the poles. The advantages of a polar site (pdf) include a relatively moderate climate, possible hydrogen and oxygen resources, unexplored terrain and abundant solar power. They have apparently abandoned plans to use nuclear reactors, which is probably for the best.
posted on Dec 4, 2006 - View this thread

Moon flatulence...amateur astronomers have seen puffs or flashes of light coming from the moon's surface. Although most professional observers have upheld the conclusion that the moon was inactive, such sightings have kept open a window of doubt. A gas release itself would not be visible for more than a second or so, but the dust it kicked up might stay suspended for up to 30 seconds. Nature article (subscription).
posted on Nov 9, 2006 - View this thread

Swede plans to put little red cottage on the moon. Not content with having them dotted all over the countryside, Sweden is now considering putting a little red cottage on the moon. The idea, first conjured up by the artist Mikael Genberg seven years ago, may become reality with the help of the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), according to N24.
posted on Oct 12, 2006 - View this thread

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 on Sep 8, 2006 - View this thread

On September 2nd at 10:41 p.m. PDT the ESA's Smart-1 will crash into the moon. While no one is certain how bright the impact will be, some believe it may be visible to amateur astronomers. We've discussed this before, but tonight's the night!
posted on Sep 2, 2006 - View this thread

Apollo Panoramic Images [note: Quicktime VR]
posted on Jul 16, 2006 - View this thread

Crash. Tiny SMART-1, ESA's first lunar probe (also a compact spacecraft technology test bed), has been in lunar orbit since November 2004. Following the success of its primary and secondary missions, ESA now plans to crash SMART-1 into the moon, with a hard landing on the near side which may be visible from Earth. More stuff on ESA's little lunar trooper: SMART-1 lunar imagery, SMART-1 NASA Master Catalog entry, Planetary Society's SMART-1 category, and SMART-1 on Wikipedia.
posted on Apr 24, 2006 - View this thread

There's water on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Here's hoping space tourism can pick up the pace a little.
posted on Mar 9, 2006 - View this thread

The world’s first tidal powered Moon Clock Created as her final year thesis at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, Laura Williams' Aluna project has come a long way in the last few years. Supported by Brian Eno (Long Now Foundation, previously discussed here and here), Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees and popular (BBC) astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, and originally planned, but ultimately turned down, for Potter's Field Park outside London's City Hall, Aluna - the world’s first tidal powered Moon Clock - is still looking for a home.
posted on Jan 27, 2006 - View this thread

Moon type, an embossed typeface invented by Englishman William Moon in the middle 1840s, seemed to have won the fight to bring reading to the blind. Online Moon type generator here. It was based on simplified Roman text, was easy to use by all, and once enjoyed the status as the most popular embossed typeface in the world (failed night writing system withstanding). Until Louis Braille developed his system, that is.
posted on Oct 8, 2005 - View this thread

Moonbase Visions. You've read about and discussed NASA's plan to use new post-shuttle launch vehicles to return to the moon. But what, exactly, is the US planning to do on the moon? What would a semi-permanent moonbase look like? And why return at all? NASA's announced answers to these questions remain vague. But last year eleven sets of responses to these questions were offered to NASA in the development proposals submitted to NASA by eleven Aerospace concerns, each of which suggested different designs, missions, and philosophies for NASA's return to the moon. Some common themes:

Military: "Provide nationally assured access to orbital locations for the placement of observation systems" and "assured access to space for development of force projection systems and movements of logistics." (pdf link, p. 5) Commercial: "Commercialize space products and services" (pdf link, p.6) Public Relations: Keeping the public inspired with "regularly placed program milestones." (pdf link, p.7)

It's interesting to compare the details of these proposals. But taken together, they raise a broader question: does NASA's fear that the public will lose interest in this commercializing, militarizing, moon venture reflect an awareness that that the vision has finally been lost?
posted on Sep 22, 2005 - View this thread

Ignition sequence starts ... A spoken word documentary album of the flight of Apollo 11 to the moon. Dramatic - evocative - the right stuff. Provided by Hepcat Willy.
posted on Sep 13, 2005 - View this thread

Now that Discovery is home safe and well, let's take a moment to remember some anxious moments 36 years ago, when President Nixon had a contingency memo prepared to read in case that Neil Armstrong et al. were somehow unable to return to Earth. The forgotten memo, written by William Saffire, is from the National Archives.
posted on Aug 9, 2005 - View this thread

Google Moon - Google Maps gets the Lunar treatment, in honor of the first manned moon landing. No directions, though, so you won't be able to plot the best route from Tycho Crater to Mare Imbrium. (Fun Hint! - try the maximum zoom level)
posted on Jul 20, 2005 - View this thread

For the sake of your sanity, for five minutes this week forget the memos, the autopsies, the celebrity verdicts, and the rest. Go outside and look at the full moon, which will hang in the sky at its lowest point in 18 years over the next three nights, says NASA, creating the "summer moon illusion." If you're a US resident, calculate your local moonrise time here.
posted on Jun 19, 2005 - View this thread

Going to the moon? Be careful. A new kind of solar storm can take you by surprise. Biggest proton storm since 1956 - before there were satellites monitoring the sun.
posted on Jun 10, 2005 - View this thread

Unidentified Titan Object Saturn's moon Titan shows an unusual bright spot that has scientists mystified. The spot, approximately the size and shape of West Virginia, is just southeast of the bright region called Xanadu and is visible to multiple instruments on the Cassini spacecraft.
posted on May 25, 2005 - View this thread

Apollo 11 - 17 Mission Panoramas - Hans Nyberg treats us with a stunning full-screen use of QTVR, taking high-resolution scans of Apollo 11, 12 and 17 panoramic photographs, stitching them together for a full 360° view. [from Slashdot]
posted on Feb 8, 2005 - View this thread

Cartography is a skill pretty much taken for granted now, but it wasn't always so. Accurate maps were once prized state secrets, laborious efforts that cost a fortune and took years (or even decades) to complete.

How things have changed. (Yours now, $110) It took almost 500 years to map North America, but it's only taken one tenth of that to map just everything else. In the last 50 years, we've been able to create acurate atlases of two planets and one moon (with a second in the works). Actually, we've done a lot more than that. We're actually running out of things to map.

Maybe Not.
posted on Jan 27, 2005 - View this thread

Saturn's enigmatic moon Titan holds on to its mysteries. Radar images reveal quite a bit of variation but no clear interpretation. The hazy atmosphere prevents the sudden shock of discovery that characterized the Voyager and Galileo flybys of the moons of Jupiter, revealing little more than fuzzy Rorschach blobs. With less than 1% of the surface mapped, researchers suspect that Titan has a young surface shaped by processes that have yet to be revealed.
posted on Nov 5, 2004 - View this thread

Leave It To Bush! - No. 2. In which George Bush discusses relationships and family with Bill Cosby. On the Moon. [Flash]
posted on Nov 1, 2004 - View this thread

Go outside and watch the eclipse [if it's night where you are]. Tonight's lunar eclipse -- visible on all continents except Australia -- marks the first time there has been an eclipse during a World Series game. If Fox is feeling generous, it could be the widest TV audience a total eclipse of a "Blood Moon" has ever had. If you're in the US, click on this time zone map to get a quicktime movie of what the moon will look like overhead in your state.
posted on Oct 27, 2004 - View this thread

Meet a federal marriage expert. According to cult leader Reverend Moon, democracy must crumble in the face of "Godism," with him in charge. Having endorsed Godism as central to any sensible curriculum, and Moon as central to any married person's sex life, one Josephine Hauer is now receiving federal funds to train marriage experts. It's part of a $1.5 billion marriage program that excludes gay-friendly organizations, but has funded this admirer of Soviet character education. The government argues that most Americans already share the values of the Healthy Marriage Initiative.
posted on Oct 5, 2004 - View this thread

The Moon should become a DNA Noah's Ark for repopulating the Earth in case of catastrophe, suggests the chief scientist Bernard H. Foing of the ESA's Research and Scientific Support Department. A more earthly frozen ark is already under construction.
posted on Sep 8, 2004 - View this thread

Did NASA fake the moon landings? I'm convinced!
posted on Sep 1, 2004 - View this thread

NASA's Cassini has found the Death Star.
posted on Jul 27, 2004 - View this thread

Today, it is 35 years since Apollo 11 landed on the moon. For detailed records of the events of that day, read the Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal. You can also take a look at the National Air and Space Museum's Apollo collection, or view photos from The Apollo Archive Image Gallery. Today, Neil Armstrong (who had meant to say "one small step for a man") leads a mostly private yet busy life, while Buzz Aldrin maintains a somewhat more public profile. Michael Collins, the much lesser-known astronaut who stayed in lunar orbit that day, went on to become Director of the National Air and Space Museum. As for those of you who still think the moon landing was faked, give it another think. Happy 35th Moon Shot Day! (Can you believe it?! The f-ing moon!!)
posted on Jul 16, 2004 - View this thread

Fun for lunatics:
     It shows the phases of the Moon [scroll down] for each day of a selected month.You can set the calendar to any date from 3999 BC to 3999 AD. Clicking any day cell on the calendar will take you to a screen presenting a more detailed view of the moon on that day...
Current Moon:
Waxing Crescent
38.5% of Full
Thu 25 Mar, 2004
     These "Virtual Reality Moon Phases" were created by R. Schmidt from ray-traced images of the Moon. A Clementine spacecraft mosaic of the lunar surface was mapped onto a sphere, and scenes were rendered as a virtual Sun "orbited" the Moon.
     In addition to the Earth, you can also view the Moon from the Earth, Sun, night side, above named formations on the lunar surface, or as a map showing day and night. You can also make images of the Moon.
     Or just check out some photos of the moon taken from the spaceships that have been there.
posted on Mar 25, 2004 - View this thread

White House To Seek Ban On Gay Sex On The Moon
posted on Feb 27, 2004 - View this thread

The real reason we're going back to the Moon? "Researchers and space enthusiasts see helium 3 as the perfect fuel source: extremely potent, nonpolluting, with virtually no radioactive by-product. Proponents claim it’s the fuel of the 21st century. The trouble is, hardly any of it is found on Earth. But there is plenty of it on the moon."
posted on Jan 21, 2004 - View this thread

To the moon, Alice! (And then, on to Mars) Time will tell whether this declaration will lead to an actual rebirth of NASA and realignment of goals for the agency. But I for one am absolutely thrilled that Bush is planning to give NASA a long-overdue new mission and goal. Avoiding the obvious pro/con debate of doing this (or the cost), I think it's absolutely vital to the national psyche for the United States to have a long-range goal that it can focus positive energy upon. This could be the first real "Challenge to the Union" that I think should become an annual event to replace the State of the Union.
posted on Jan 9, 2004 - View this thread

Lunar Photo of the Day started January 1st, 2004 to document human's never ending obsession with the moon. LPOD now joins APOD, MPOD, and ESPOD as quality picture of the day websites.
posted on Jan 7, 2004 - View this thread

Bankrollers of ideology. George Soros vs. Rev. Moon.
posted on Nov 24, 2003 - View this thread

Neil Armstrong. The awful truth. In 1969, Neil Armstrong made history by becoming the first man to walk on the moon, uttering the immortal phrase, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Or did he? Previously suppressed footage discovered by blogjam shows that Armstrong's reaction was a great deal more uninhibited than history suggests, and that a hasty editing job was needed to prepare the astronaut's moment of glory for broadcast. So here, for the first time, is the unedited NASA film from the triumphant Apollo 11 mission. [Maybe NSFW]
posted on Oct 30, 2003 - View this thread

As a bunch of Average Americans living from paycheck to paycheck, we feel frustrated that our President is spending more of his time restricting the fundamental rights that our nation is founded on than fixing the economic woes we face. And, as Average Americans, we're doing what any red-blooded patriot would do when things seem their darkest — we're Mooning.
posted on Aug 20, 2003 - View this thread