Posted by Davin Flateau on 1 Mar 2006 at 6:01 pm.
Filed under General, Astronomy.
The word is borrowed via French from Latin “lunaticus”, which gains its stem from “luna” for moon, which denotes the traditional link made in folklore between madness and the phases of the moon.
The association of craziness and the Moon may be outdated, but today, many lunar astronomers would tell you they’re crazy for the Moon. The Moon is our closest neighbor, easily studied with even a pair of binoculars, and the only body ever actually visited by humans, so you’d think that we’d know just about everything about it by now. But the moon still has its secrets, like the recent discovery of huge amounts of water ice in shadowed craters.
The far side of the Moon is always hidden from our view here on Earth, and although its been photographed by spacecraft, it’s not nearly as well studied as the side of the Moon that always faces the us.
Much of the recent excitement going around is about good ‘ol Luna sporting new boot prints soon as part of the new exploration initiative that NASA is working on.
There is so much to learn about the Moon, so here’s a few links to get your moon bug itchin’:
Chuck Wood’s Moon is a great site for all things moon related, including maps and
Chuck also runs Lunar Photo of the Day, a blog the annotated pictures of the moon every day. Travel to a different part of the moon every day!
Lunar Soil is a blog with almost daily postings about Moon news.
The Lunar News Network is another blog with updates about NASA’s current effort to return to the Moon.
MoonToday.net is another Moon news site updated regularly.
Fly around the Moon with the free Virtual Moon Atlas.
Lyn on 5 Mar 2006 at 6:39 pm: 1
You’re in this week’s Kansas Blogger’s Roundup. But I’m looking for blogs to host upcoming carnivals. Please let me know if you’re interested. Thanks. Lyn from Bloggin’ Outloud (now on hiatus from blogging)
Davin Flateau on 6 Mar 2006 at 11:26 am: 2
Lyn,
Thanks - odd that the track or pingback never registered. Some odd bug in Wordpress, perhaps?