The monthly celestial whiteout kicks in this week, and serious stargazing is shut down once again.
The moon will be exactly full Tuesday night, but for most of this week, it will be close enough to being fully lit up to wash out all but the brighter stars and constellations.
Full moons are especially obtrusive to amateur astronomy this time of year because our lunar friend takes such a high nighttime trek across the skies.
It takes more or less the same high path across the heavens as our sun does during the summertime. That’s because the full moon and the sun are in opposite directions from our Earth in space, thus putting them in opposition in our sky. That’s why the full moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise.
What further complicates things is that the Earth’s axis is tilted 231/2 degrees to its orbit around the sun. In the summer, when the northern hemisphere tilts more toward the sun, the sun takes a high arc across the sky and the full moon takes a low track.
In the winter, when our northern hemisphere tilts away from the sun, the sun makes a low east to west journey in our sky, and the full moon rides high.
But I don’t want to come off like one of those second-rate sports columnists who love to rip, rip, rip everything and anything. There’s a lot about the full moon I truly love.
Like anyone else might, I try to see the face of the man in the moon. As one who grew up in the ’60s and early ’70s, I also find myself thinking about the men who walked on the moon.
I wish a woman had a chance to stroll on the lunar surface, and in the future I’m sure it will happen, but unfortunately, back then it was mainly a man’s world when it came to space flight.
A total of 12 men walked on the moon, and everyone knows that the first man to step on the surface in July 1969 was Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11.
This December brought the 35th anniversary of Apollo 17, the last manned mission to the moon. Do you know the name of the last man to walk on the moon? Unfortunately, not many do.
The early missions to the moon mainly landed on the maria, dark areas of the moon that are named as seas and oceans, because long ago, before there were telescopes, people thought these dark splotches were actually huge bodies of water.
In fact, Apollo 11 made the first lunar landing on the Sea of Tranquility.
These seas and oceans actually are relatively flat lunar plains made by volcanic flows. They are thought to have occurred between 3 and 4 billion years ago. They were desirable landing sites for the first lunar missions because of their generally flat, smooth surfaces, with not too many craters.
The whiter sections of the moon’s face are the more hazardous, cratered highlands. Most of the impact craters on the moon were created during the chaotic early years of our solar system more than 4 billion years ago.
The entire lunar surface was probably heavily cratered back then, but the volcanic flows and hardening about a billion years later resurfaced parts of the moon. For sure, there are some craters on the maria, but not as many, because by the time the maria formed, most of the heavy meteor bombardment had subsided.
As much as the moon can be annoying to stargazers, it’s a good thing the moon is around. For one thing, its gravity and tidal forces slow down the Earth’s rotation.
When the Earth was young, more than 4 billion years ago, it took only eight hours to make one spin on its axis. That made for a really fast day. Because of the moon’s gravitational tug, the Earth has slowed to a 24-hour rotation.
The moon’s gravity also keeps the Earth’s axis in control. Without the moon, many astronomers believe that our axis would go through all kinds of wild gyrations because of the gravitational tugs from Jupiter and the other planets. That would make our world a lot more hazardous for life as we know it.
Even with all the good it does for our world, if you still don’t like the moon, just wait awhile. The moon is actually moving away from the Earth. Every year, it moves 11/2 inches farther away. In 3 billion years, it will be more than 70,000 miles farther away.
Meanwhile, this evening, our up-close and personal moon and the bright planet Mars will be practically touching each other in the heavens. They’ll only be about 1 degree apart and will make for really good eye candy. Tonight, the moon will be about 225,000 miles away and Mars will be about 64 million miles from our eyes.
By the way, the last man to walk on the moon, in December 1972, was Gene Cernan. Who will be the next person to walk on the moon? Stay tuned!
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book, “Washington Starwatch,” available at bookstores and at his Web site, www.lynchandthestars.com.
Be a stargazer
The Everett Astronomical Society welcomes new members and puts on public star parties. Their Web site is members.tripod.com/everett_astronomy.
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