Happy Moonday!

Image Credit: Wikipedia Commons

It is the first Moonday in the Moonth of July. Did you know that the days of the week were named by the Greeks after the Sun, the Moon, and the five known planets? The Romans substituted their gods for the Greek gods - Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. The Germanic people substituted roughly similar gods for the Roman gods, Tiu (Twia), Woden, Thor, Freya (Fria), but did not substitute Saturn. Thus, we have our days of the week, Sunday, Moonday, Tiusday, Wodensday, Thorsday, Freyasday, and Saturnday.

Of course, the word month comes from moon too - you could think of it as moonth. The moon takes 29.5 days to go from full moon to full moon on average. Back in the 4th century BCE, the people of the Greek isles based their calendars on the lunar cycle. The Roman calendar was based on these calendars, with twelve months in a year, each with about 30 days. Our modern calendar is still based on these original calendars, and so still tied to the cycle of moon phases. 

I hope you caught the Moon right next to Mars Saturday night, and in between Mars and Saturn Sunday night! If you missed it, look tonight to find the moon to the left, or east of Saturn.

By the way, here are some great high resolution photos of the moon from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. 

10,000 feet Apennine mountains to the east, and 600 feet deep Hadley Rille valley to the west.
Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

 

Rima Suess, a long depression carved long ago by rivers of lava, is peppered with boulders and rocks. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

The central peak of Tycho crater casts a long shadow. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

The central peak of Tycho crater casts a long shadow. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

Apollo 11 landing site and materials left behind. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

Full map of the near side of the Moon. Click here to zoom in for excellent detail. Seriously, try it!

Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

Full map of the far side of the Moon. There is no dark side of the moon, just a side that we don't see. Again, click here for a very cool zoomable map.

Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

To learn more about the Moon and space in general, visit the Dome at the Peoria Riverfront Museum, where we teach about space and science every day. Find a full list of shows and descriptions here. Also, check out our newest evening event in the planetarium, Deep Space Wine, coming up on July 19!