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moony thoughts
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026 02:55 amI want to say Jupiter is doing a lunar flyby tomorrow. The Lyrids meteor shower is expected to peak tomorrow night too.
The dark part of the crescent moon has been looking more visible than usual; a lighter shade of gray. Earthshine is brighter this time of year, according to those pages; the latter one gives an explanation as to why.
Looking at the moon recently I had the thought of it being a 5 days' journey away; not the kind of thought I used to have while looking at it.
Humans have been on the moon 6 times already; the last time was Apollo 17 in 1972. I hadn't remembered it being more than once.
I still want to find out why it wouldn't work to send a craft around the moon when the moon is in the new moon phase, so that the craft could see the far side all lit up. I imagine the sun's gravity causes problems with the trajectory, but then again the sun is so far away that I'm not sure.
The dark part of the crescent moon has been looking more visible than usual; a lighter shade of gray. Earthshine is brighter this time of year, according to those pages; the latter one gives an explanation as to why.
Looking at the moon recently I had the thought of it being a 5 days' journey away; not the kind of thought I used to have while looking at it.
Humans have been on the moon 6 times already; the last time was Apollo 17 in 1972. I hadn't remembered it being more than once.
I still want to find out why it wouldn't work to send a craft around the moon when the moon is in the new moon phase, so that the craft could see the far side all lit up. I imagine the sun's gravity causes problems with the trajectory, but then again the sun is so far away that I'm not sure.