Does the moon rotate?
Last week, we had the opportunity to enjoy a night under the stars (erm… clouds) with New York City’s Amateur Astronomer’s Association. Though there was only a brief break in the cloud cover, we still got to peak at Jupiter through telescopes and learn how to read star charts for future explorations. We also got the AAA’s expert advice on observing the upcoming eclipse. Though the path for the full eclipse does not pass through New York City, there will be a partial eclipse of about 70% and there are viewing events in every borough (bring your eclipse glasses or a pinhole camera!)
A few key takeaways included:
- Yes, you can see celestial bodies from the streets of NYC.
- The Aurora Borealis has been seen from New Jersey!
- Stars are usually between 1 billion and 10 billion year’s old.
Our excellent instructors for the evening were also on hand to field tough questions like “If the stars burned out long ago and we’re seeing the light now, are we actually seeing the stars?”, “Why Does the Milky Way look… milky?” and “Does the Moon Rotate?” Click play below to find the answer to the last one:
We like to call that beerstronomy! More photos:
