Unless you've been living under a moon rock, it's been hard to miss the coverage of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. So, it's understandable if you've had space on the brain. But have you taken a moment to pause and look up at the night skies?
There are few places more curious this time of year, so I recently sat down with Kelly Beatty from Cambridge-based Sky and Telescope Magazine for a chat about the celestial highlights that are in store this summer. But before we got into that, I asked him whether there was anything about the moon landing that he thought got lost amidst all of the attention in recent days.
"One was that, you know, it was all about getting Armstrong and Aldrin onto the surface of the moon. It was a huge technological and geopolitical win," said Beatty. "But we did learn some science."
That science greatly advanced our understanding of the moon's surface and its makeup. Beatty pointed out that prior to the moon landing, there were experts who believed the moon was a giant dust bowl — and that the proverbial "eagle" would not land, but rather sink into it. Clearly that was not the case. Beatty said we were also able to confirm that the so-called lunar seas — or maria — were ancient lava flows.
"And finally — this is perhaps most important — a team here in Cambridge took a small sample of those moon rocks that they brought back, and proved that the Moon must have been globally molten to a tremendous depth and maybe all the way through early in its history."
At the time, most scientists believed that the moon had assembled as a cold mass of rocks.
"No," said Beatty. "The moon, at some point, became so molten that, just like Italian salad dressing, the dense stuff sank, and the light frothy low-density rock floated to the surface. And it really revolutionized lunar science."
The moon will also be a factor for those of us here on Earth looking to take advantage of the warm summer nights to do a little stargazing.
"The perennial favorite is the Perseid meteor shower, which takes place on ... Aug. 12 and 13," he said. "And there will be a Perseid meteor shower this year. But the moon will be full as well, and so that will greatly reduce the number of meteors you can see, even if you happen to find a dark location."
Despite that full moon, Beatty says it's worth taking a look. You should still be able to see the brightest meteors beginning around 9 or 10 p.m. on both nights. In the meantime, there are other highlights in the night sky.
"The two stars of the summer night sky are the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn," said Beatty. "Jupiter, right now, is very obvious. It's the brightest thing in the nighttime sky in the south."
If you can find Jupiter, Beatty said, then look to its left, by about the width of two or three of your fists held at arms length, to see that famed ringed planet.
"Saturn [is] also quite bright, but not nearly as much as Jupiter," said Beatty. "They'll be with us all the rest of the summer, so if you've got a telescope, those would be two great targets to check out."
If you don't have a telescope, fear not. Beatty said you might be surprised by what you can see on a clear night with a much more accessible piece of equipment.
"Very few people have ever thought to use their binoculars on the night sky," he said. "But you can see craters on the moon. If they're strong enough and you can hold them steady enough, you can look at Jupiter and see that Jupiter is a little white disc — and there are little pinpoint stars on either side of it that are its four largest moons.
One of those tiny specks of light just happens to be one of the most intriguing celestial bodies in the entire solar system.
"[Jupiter's moon] Europa has a sort of an eggshell crust made of ice." explained Beatty. "But beneath it is a liquid ocean."
That ocean is kept liquid thanks to heat from Europa's interior.
"A warm ocean with salts, and the right chemical environment, could be the right conditions for developing life," said Beatty. "And so NASA has a mission going back to Europa to try to explore that a little bit further.
As for where you might want to go to take in the free nightly light show this summer?
"The top of Arlington Heights, said Beatty. "There's a bus [that goes] there. A place called Robin's farm. And also Duxbury beach on the south shore.
And if you can't get to either of those places?
"You know, light pollution is everywhere in the Boston area, but like politics, it's mostly local," said Beatty. "And so if you can find a park — maybe even a little league field — in your neighborhood that doesn't have any street lights close at hand, you'll see more stars than you will if you're trying to fight street lights in your backyard."
As for when is a good time to do some stargazing? Again, consider the moon. The rest of the sky is more visible when it is hiding in the shadows during its new moon phase. There are two new moons left this summer: on July 31 and at the very end of August.
