Endeavour Launch Week

The space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to lift off from the Florida coastline on Friday, November 14th at 7.55pm EST to the International Space Station. The equipment includes new crew quarters, a galley, oxygen generator and wastewater recycling device. The equipment will allow the station to double its crew to six next year.

You can follow the mission at the shuttle mission page and if there are any special events, we’ll talk about them here. Locally, we have the Community Media Center to thank, as they broadcast NASA-TV on local cable channel 24 (Livewire). The GRAAA sponsors NASA-TV locally. Godspeed Endeavour, and good luck.

An August Full Moon

Somtething is going to happen at 5.16pm EDT on Saturday, August 16th. The moon will be opposite the sun in the sky, having reached its “full” phase.

The August full moon is called the “Sturgeon Moon” as the large fish were seemingly easier to catch this month.

And if you just so happened to be on the other side of the world there will be a partial eclipse of the moon. If you remember last August, we actually had a total lunar eclipse at full moon.

So as the sun sets on the warm Saturday evening, turn around 180º from the sunset and see the luminous full moon rising in the southeastern sky, as it begins its journey across the night sky, bathing the earth with its reflected glow.

June 2008’s Full Moon

The middle of the third week of June heralds the full moon for the month. This time the moon will attain “full” phase at 1.30pm Eastern Time on the 18th. June’s full moon is called the “Full Strawberry Moon” and everyone in Michigan knows it’s time for the sweet, juicy locally-grown berries, which are much better than the imported ones from other states.

June’s full moon is the southernmost full moon of the year. With the sun at it’s highest point in the sky for us in the northern hemisphere (the Summer Solstice was just over a week ago) the moon, which when it is in the “full” phase is 180° from the sun, is at it’s lowest point. Hence, the moon will rise in the southeast sky, and not get very high above the southern horizon all night.