Celebration of Space - March 14, 2025
Today, March 14th is Pi Day!
The Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lunar lander, which successfully landed in the Mare Crisium region on the Moon on March 2, 2025, was set up and ready to capture the view. I have limited knowledge of the Blue Ghost mission and Firefly Aerospace, but the lander is equipped with several high resolution cameras, which are actually high resolution, unlike most other missions that claim they have them, but really don’t. Now it should be noted that from the lunar surface an observer would not see the lunar eclipse event as a dimming of the Moon in the sky. Instead, the view would be that of a solar eclipse, but instead of involving the Moon, it would involve Earth. What a fascinating prospect! Early this morning ET, Blue Ghost captured several photos of this event. As of writing, only one image has been released, which shows the diamond ring effect of a solar eclipse, but this time with Earth eclipsing the Sun. Firefly Aerospace has posted that more images are coming soon.
Here is the video of Blue Ghost touching down on Mare Crisium
Here is the photo that Blue Ghost captured of the lunar / solar eclipse event
Today Friday, March 14 is Pi Day for 2025. Somewhat a geeky day, Pi Day falls on March 14th every year. You know, 3.14, March 14th – Pi, which represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, seems to be everyone's favorite irrational number. It is also used in a lot of orbital calculations. Try this, take a pumpkin pie (tasty!) and divide the circumference of your pumpkin pie by the diameter of the delicious circular treat, and you’ll end up with 3.14 (Pi). This exists with all circles in the Universe. NASA and other science organizations will be hosting Pi Day challenges, memes, and other activities to celebrate the math geek in all of us. Check out NASA’s page for Pi Day at: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/resources/project/the-nasa-pi-day-challenge/ and celebrate the day with a slice of your favorite pie.
On Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 5:02 a.m. ET, Earth’s equator will intersect with the ecliptic (the path the Sun takes across the sky) marking the Vernal Equinox, and the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. At this time the Earth arrives at the point in its orbit where it is neither tilted towards or away from the Sun. This results in an equal amount of day and night periods, with the Sun passing directly overhead (at zenith) when viewed along the equator at Noon. Thursday also marks a switch in daytime length, to a period of the year where the days are longer than the nights. So take a moment on Thursday morning to step outside and welcome the mud laden, mosquito pending, pollen attack of spring, and take solace in the heat loving craziness that’s just around the corner, including beach days, late sunsets, picnics, and fabulous nights under the Milky Way – which kick in early April. Have a Happy Vernal Equinox from all the astro-geeks at Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center!
