![]() “VIPER follows on the heels of NASA’s (2009) LCROSS mission, which was the first lunar mission to actually touch the water ice in a polar region on the moon,” says Dan Andrews, the VIPER project manager at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. ![]() Armed with a suite of scientific instruments, VIPER will collect and analyze samples and map the distribution of water ice beneath the surface – which could lay the foundation for sustained lunar exploration. Its mission is to search the lunar surface for water ice. VIPER, or Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, has now begun construction and is scheduled to land at the moon’s South Pole in 2024. Space agencies around the world are developing cutting-edge moon rovers with advanced capabilities, with NASA’s VIPER rover among the vanguard of new robotic explorers. The Moon is in a Full Moon geocentric opposition with the Sun and thus forming Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy alignment.With NASA’s Artemis mission planning to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972, there’s a new buzz about lunar exploration. Previous standstill | Next standstill Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy Previous | Current draconic month | Next Moon before southern standstillġ1 days since the previous standstill on at 14:08 in ♊ Gemini when the Moon has reached North declination of ∠27.903°, the lunar orbit is extending southward over the next 2 days to face maximum declination of ∠-27.866° at the point of next southern standstill on 5 June 2023 at 16:21 in ♐ Sagittarius. The Moon is located south of the ecliptic over the following 10 days, until the lunar orbit crosses from South to North in ascending node on 14 June 2023 at 00:05 in ♉ Taurus.ġ6 days since the beginning of current draconic month in ♈ Aries, the Moon is navigating from the second to the final part of the cycle. Moon after descending nodeĢ days after descending node on 1 June 2023 at 06:23 in ♏ Scorpio. The Moon is 376 860 km ( 234 170 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 3 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 364 860 km ( 226 713 mi). Previous apogee | Next perigee Distance to Moon 376 860 km It will keep this direction over the next 3 days, until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 6 June 2023 at 23:07 in ♑ Capricorn. The lunar orbit is getting narrow, while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. Moon before apogeeĨ days after point of apogee on at 01:39 in ♌ Leo. At the beginning of next synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠127.4°. It is %hours_to_shortest% and %minutes_to_shortest% longer than the 21st century's shortest and %hours_to_longest% and %minutes_to_longest% shorter than the 21st century's longest synodic months.Īt the beginning of the lunation cycle the true anomaly is ∠92.6°. ![]() The length of the current synodic month is equal to the mean synodic month length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increasing with the true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at apogee ( ∠180°). It is 1 hour and 11 minutes shorter than the next lunation's length. The length of the lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes. Previous | Current lunation | Next Synodic month length 29.53 days ![]() This is lunation 289 of Meeus index or 1242 from Brown series. Earth's natural satellite is moving through the middle part of current synodic month. Combined Sun and Moon gravitational tidal force working on Earth is strong, because of the Sun-Earth-Moon syzygy alignment. There is high Full Moon ocean tide today. First Quarter in Libra ♎ after 22 days on 26 June 2023 at 07:50 Spring tide.New Moon in Gemini ♊ after 14 days on 18 June 2023 at 04:37.Last Quarter in Pisces ♓ after 7 days on 10 June 2023 at 19:31.Full Moon in Sagittarius ♐ after 1 day on 4 June 2023 at 03:42. ![]()
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