Starship Asterisk*

On September 18, 2010 the world will join the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Md., as well as other NASA Centers to celebrate the first annual International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN).

"InOMN provides the opportunity for the general public, our partners, and amateur astronomers to learn about lunar science and to view the Moon - many for the first time - through telescopes!" said Brooke Hsu, the Education and Public Outreach lead for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and principle investigator for InOMN.

What started as a celebration of LRO's successful journey to orbit around the Moon last August has grown to into an astronomical event this year. After LRO's launch, Goddard's Education and Outreach Team hosted the event, "We're at the Moon!" The same day, the event "National Observe the Moon Night," was hosted at NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC) in Moffett Field, Calif. by the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite and NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) teams. NLSI is based at NASA Ames. This year, the teams have decided to expand the event by partnering with other NASA institutions, organizations and communities around the world.

"The goal of both of these events was similar: engage the local public and amateur astronomer communities in an event to raise awareness of NASA's involvement in lunar research and exploration. The events were so successful we've decided to do it again. Only better and much, much bigger," said Doris Daou, the director of communications and outreach for NLSI.

For more information visit: observethemoonnight.org
For events near you visit: InOMN Event Descriptions

Tonight is the first annual International Observe the Moon Night, an effort spearheaded by folks at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to get people outside and looking at the sky.

This is a pretty neat idea; the Moon is big and easy to spot, and really cool through even a small telescope. GSFC has partnered with hundreds of groups to set up observing sessions all over the planet, and there’s probably one near you.

They picked a good night: the Moon will be waxing gibbous tonight, meaning it’s halfway between first quarter and full. It’s already up before the Sun sets, so it’s easily visible even during the early evening, and you don’t have to stay up late to see it. There will still be crater shadows, too (at full Moon, the Sun shines straight down on the Moon from our view and you can’t see shadows, making craters difficult to spot).

So go outside and take a look! And even though you won’t be able to see it, remember that we have a space probe orbiting the Moon right now, just starting up its science mission. There’s still a lot to learn about our nearest cosmic neighbor.

mexhunter wrote:Not cleared properly, this suspension is only for my city (Monterrey, Mexico) and its suburbs.
Grettings
César

biddie67 wrote:RE :: International Observe the Moon Night

This is Private Bidde67 reporting in to the Captain of the Moon Observation Night brigade - upon collecting the binoculars and a dog or two, I sat out on the back steps and proceeded to observe said moon - dogs and I did a short howling in celebration and appreciation - it was marvelous!!!

P.S. crazy ?? not likely. eccentric ?? most likely.