Dining & Nightlife | Astronomy

Commanded by Neil A. Armstrong, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969, at 4:18pm Eastern Daylight time. Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. piloted the Lunar Module for this mission; he was also the first man to indulge in spirits on the moon—in the comfort of his spacecraft, he took a sip of wine from a small chalice. (It may be noted that later spacefarers discovered beer produces unpleasant “wet burps” due to the absence of gravity.) Neil A. Armstrong and his crew spent a total of eight days in space.

Just two years later, on July 30, 1971, the Apollo 15 spacecraft landed on the surface of the Moon. The crew traveled several kilometers in a lunar rover vehicle and collected 76.8 kilograms (roughly 170 pounds) of now-famous “Moon Rocks.” It was during this mission that Alfred M. Worden took the first “deep” spacewalk. The 60s and 70s were truly incredible times as far as space exploration was concerned. It is depressing to think that over 35 years has passed and still we do not have a Moon base.

Look towards the eastern skies after midnight.

Talking about the Moon, there will be a penumbral (less than partial) Lunar eclipse visible in most of Australia and the Americas, but not in our region of the country, on July 7th, the night of the Full Moon. The New Moon occurs on the 22nd and will be accompanied by a total solar eclipse. Sorrowfully, this eclipse will only be visible from central India, Nepal, China and parts of the Pacific Ocean.

On the 28th and 29th of July, the Southern Delta Aquarids will streak the sky with about twenty meteors per hour. Some meteors from this shower may be observed all the way from July 18th through August 18th. Look towards the eastern skies after midnight to enjoy the sight—the radiant for this shower is the constellation Aquarius, which reaches its highest point in the sky just before dawn when best viewing will occur. There is a bit of a mystery surrounding the Delta Aquarids—for most meteor showers, the comet responsible for the debris trail that gives rise to the event is known. This is not so for the Southern Delta Aquarids, despite the fact that this shower is still a fairly active one.

Jeffrey Owen Katz, Ph.D., volunteers as the Observatory and Research Director of the Custer Institute. You can contact him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or meet him any Saturday evening at the observatory. For detailed information about upcoming events, see the events calendar in this magazine or visit custerobservatory.org.