Send Your Name to the Moon!

NASA/GSFC NASA invites people of all ages to join the lunar exploration journey with an opportunity to send their names to the moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft.

The Send Your Name to the Moon Web site enables everyone to participate in the lunar adventure and place their names in orbit around the moon for years to come. Participants can submit their information at http://lro.jhuapl.edu/NameToMoon/, print a certificate and have their name entered into a database. The database will be placed on a microchip that will be integrated onto the spacecraft. The deadline for submitting names is June 27, 2008.

"Everyone who sends their name to the moon, like I'm doing, becomes part of the next wave of lunar explorers," said Cathy Peddie, deputy project manager for LRO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The LRO mission is the first step in NASA's plans to return humans to the moon by 2020, and your name can reach there first. How cool is that?"

The orbiter, comprised of six instruments and one technology demonstration, will provide the most comprehensive data set ever returned from the moon. The mission will focus on the selection of safe landing sites and identification of lunar resources. It also will study how the lunar radiation environment could affect humans.

NASA/GSFC LRO will also create a comprehensive atlas of the moon's features and resources that will be needed as NASA designs and builds a planned lunar outpost. The mission will support future human exploration while providing a foundation for upcoming science missions. LRO is scheduled for launch in late 2008.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is being built at Goddard. The mission also will be managed at the center for NASA's Explorations Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.

Send Your Name to the Moon is a collaborative effort among NASA, the Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif., and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

Is that an Asteroid, or a Comet?

Comets unleash streams of dusty debris as they approach the Sun. The Earth crosses these streams from time to time allowing us to see stunning meteor showers. The Geminid meteor shower, which peaks this weekend on the nights of December 13th and 14th, is a rare exception to this rule. Broken fragments from a pseudo asteroid-comet with a mysterious composition create the Geminids, which continue to grow in intensity every year. So, unlike the Leonids, if you miss them this year, they'll just be that much better next year.

The moon will be bright during the shower’s prime viewing hours this year, which starts around 10 p.m. local both Saturday and Sunday night. Strong moonlight sharply reduces the number of faint meteors seen. Storm clouds and winter weather will further reduce my viewing opportunities tonight. But tomorrow looks promising. I'll try again then.

The Red Planet

Last night, after all the "sane" people around here had gone to bed, the dog and I jumped in the truck and drove 66 miles into the desert to the Observatory at Bruneau Dunes State Park. The weather was great, the view of the night sky from Bruneau was spectacular, and Mars was in perfect opposition with Earth!

As luck would have it, there was a tiny, barely visible patch of fog right in front of Mars last night. We could see Mars no problem, but it was hard to make out the details of the planet, like the Southern Ice Cap, just because everything was made just a little bit blurry by the fog. Further complicating the problem, there was a dust storm on Mars while I was in Bruneau. Of course, I'd never before seen a dust storm on Mars either.

Am I disappointed? Not at all! I had forgotten how many stars get "turned off" by the light from the city, even way out here where it seems very dark - and the view seems very good. The Observatory at Bruneau Dunes State Park is an Idaho Gem that I didn't know about before last night. And it's a place where I'll take my daughter to see the night sky when she gets a little older.

I'm tempted to go back to Bruneau tonight for a second try at Mars, but I'll probably choose to get some sleep instead. It was a VERY short night last night! On the other hand, Bogus Basin is just a short drive up the Mountain; and the view from the top of 7,582 foot Shafer Butte is also very, very good.

If you missed Mars last night, the view should be equally sensational tonight. And Mars will continue to be a prominent light in the night sky for another 30 days or so. After that, it's back to business as usual for the red planet.

Mars Encounter

Earth and Mars are rapidly converging. Want to know how fast? Count slowly: one one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand.... You just got about 18 miles closer to the planet Mars.

Right now Mars is rising in the east at aprox. 10 p.m. and is reaching its azimuth at about 3 a.m. But by the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky by 12:30 a.m.

Mars is easy to spot. I took these pictures of Mars two nights ago without the aid of a telescope, using just my digital video recorder.

Our encounter with Mars will culminate on August 27th, 2003 when the planet comes to within 56 million km of Earth; making Mars the brightest object in the night sky - next to the moon. At a modest 75-power magnification, Mars will appear to be as large as the full moon appears to the naked eye.

This is the closest Mars has ever been to Earth in recorded history. Astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years; but it may have been as long as 60,000 years. What we do know for sure is that the next time Mars may come this close is in the year 2287.

No one alive today has ever seen this before. And no one alive today will ever see this again. This is undoubtedly a once in a lifetime opportunity!