It's global astronomy month and our pal Pamela Gay in cooperation with CosmoQuest wants you to know about a very cool amateur astronomy project. Not only will this project allow you to do some actual science but it can net you some pretty sweet prizes too.
So what’s the deal?
It’s global astronomy month! And CosmoQuest and Astronomers Without Borders have come up with a challenge to get the public involved in mapping the moon!
Right now the new moon can’t be seen in the sky but the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has seen it and there is much data.
The challenge is to see if the public can use this data to observe one million craters by the time the full moon rises again on May 5th.
So put Dark Side of the Moon on your sound system, fancy yourself a part of the lunatic fringe and get on over to the Million Crater Challenge to sign up. Then map baby, map… the moon, for science!
Prizes include spacey Surlies made by me, LRO lithographs and Astrophere posters.
More detailed info here.
