Geology, Planets, Space, and Science Stuff - Mirabile Dictu Scientia
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The Asian Eclipse on July 22
I can't understand what they're saying, but I can pretty much figure it out. They're saying "Wow, that's awesome!" This was filmed in the southern islands of Japan. This was the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century.
Japan's Kaguya spacecraft crashed into the Moon last week, as planned. Officially named the Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), the spacecraft was given the nickname Kaguya after the princess in the Japanese folklore story The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Pictured above is a movie taken by Kaguya during the last orbit of its twenty-month lunar mission. A desolate, hilly, and cratered terrain passes underneath as the spacecraft barely clears a few peaks. At the movie's end, the spacecraft disappears into darkness near Gill crater. Robotic SELENE carried thirteen scientific instruments and two HDTV cameras.