Shine on, you crazy Earth

This is a great week to watch the development of lunar phases. Start watching on Monday night, with a barely visible 1.5-day old thin crescent that sets about an hour after the sun; you should see it near the western horizon at 8:30 P.M. On Monday and Tuesday night, you’ll have a great display of “Earthshine.”

New Horizons is on a billion-mile cruise to MU69, a Kuiper Belt Object that’s been selected as the next object the satellite will fly by in 2019. The spacecraft left Earth in January 2006 at 36,000 mph – that’s 100 times faster than a jetliner.
Mark your calendars! We are now just one month out from the Great American Eclipse.
Apollo 11 returned to Earth on July 24th, 1969. Apollo 15 Left for the moon on July 25th 1971, and arrived 4 days later. It was the fourth lunar landing mission and the first to use a rover.