Get ready for a New Moon

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The night sky will showcase a New Moon on Monday, but by the time this moon is full it will become the Hunters Moon, which follows the Harvest Moon after the autumnal equinox. History tells us that a Hunters Moon is a great aid to hunters who might be tracking prey early in the evening through the harvested fields by moonlight. Also in the night sky, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto make appearances front and center in the sky from sunset to 10pm. However, be prepared with a telescope, which you will need to see these. And what’s the latest with the NASA Curiosity Rover? The Rover has begun to analyze soil and one of the first things that has to be done is to try and wash out any Earth contamination. Within the first scoop the camera detected a small shiny piece of plastic that had come off of the rover itself. This incident opens up a discussion about how much of a footprint we are leaving on Mars. How much other stuff have we left around the planet already? All this and more on this week’s Sky Talk.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia