Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Car Pushed Into Anacostia River By Train
Morning Roundup: Black Friday Edition
Devendra Banhart @ 9:30 Club
Twice a year, as the vernal and autumnal equinoxes come upon us, nightwatchers in the D.C. area get a special treat when the full Moon's orbit brings it up behind the Capitol building, in line with the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and Iwo Jima Memorial. Usually this occasion occurs in concert with the Harvest Moon, the name of the full Moon that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox, which happens on September 22 this year; however, this time around, the closest full Moon actually occurs after the equinox. Nevertheless, it's September's Moon that gives us the spectacular line up, so this year our photographers met up near the Washington Monument last night to view the Corn Moon rise behind the Capitol. Check out the gallery above for their spectacular shots. Although the official full Moon was Friday, you should still get a pretty great view tonight, -- you might consider the Mall if you were looking for a romantic moon-lit walk with your partner.
Jupiter is still king of the sky these days, and we hope you took a peek last week to see it passing very near the waxing Moon. Aside from our natural satellite, it's the brightest thing in the sky, so impress a friend by pointing it out while you're enjoying the cooling weather on the patio this weekend. If you know someone with a decent pair of binoculars, look up at the giant planet tonight after 8:17 p.m. -- you'll see one of its moons, Ganymede, very close by as it comes out of eclipse. On Monday night, use the binoculars again to see the Great Red Spot -- a giant hurricane-like storm three times the size of Earth -- at around 9 p.m. Finally, on Thursday, check it out at about 10:45 p.m. to see another moon, Io, in transit across Jupiter's face.
Get more information about what's in the sky this week at Sky and Telescope.
If you're into rocketry, head down to the Goddard Space Flight Center Visitor Center in Greenbelt on Sunday from 1 to 2 p.m. for the local section of the National Association of Rocketry's monthly launch meet-up. Anyone is welcome to come by; check out their website for directions and regulations on types of rockets allowed. Weather permitting.
In space exploration news (or preparation for it, at least), a local scientist from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum is in the middle of performing some interesting tasks. Geologist Brent Garry flew out to the Arizona desert last week with NASA's Lunar Electric Rover -- the newly designed vehicle NASA hopes to send along with the next astronauts who go to the Moon. (Maybe you saw it rolling down the streets during President Obama's Inauguration Parade.) Garry is running a field mission called Desert RATS (Research and Technology Studies) for two weeks to simulate a lunar mission. Keep up with the Desert RATS at NASA's website or read Gerry's updates on Twitter.
Finally, don't forget to watch Space Shuttle Discovery land this Thursday at around 11 p.m. See it on NASA TV, Spaceflight Now, or Spacevidcast. For a more fiery view, watch the rescheduled Ares I rocket test fire on Thursday at 1 p.m. (at those same sites). The Ares I is part of the Constellation program as the next launch vehicle to take astronauts into low-Earth orbit, replacing the space shuttle. Of course, if the Augustine Commission report, expected to be delivered to the President on Tuesday, says what everyone thinks it's going to say, this may be the only firing of the Ares I rocket anyone ever sees, if the test isn't outright scrapped (though that's unlikely to be the immediate response, since engineers can still get lots of data from the test fire for future projects).
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Beautiful photographs all!
Great photos! Thanks for sharing.
Sometimes I'm reminded how beautiful DC can be...
I saw this coming down Penn. Ave., i thought to myself. "oh wow, i should Photoshop something like that"
i was thoroughly disgusted with myself.