1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,990 No sound 2 00:00:04,010 --> 00:00:08,010 On Sunday night 3 00:00:08,030 --> 00:00:12,050 we have two cool events that are happening at the same time. We have a lunar 4 00:00:12,070 --> 00:00:16,240 eclipse, when the moon passes into the shadow of the Earth. So we'll go 5 00:00:16,260 --> 00:00:20,270 from being very bright to turning this beautiful red color. The effect of the sunrises 6 00:00:20,290 --> 00:00:24,290 and sunsets of the Earth being projected onto the lunar surface. We also have a supermoon 7 00:00:24,310 --> 00:00:28,310 the closest full moon of the year. So those two events are occuring at the same time. 8 00:00:28,330 --> 00:00:32,340 And that's a very rare event. Hasn't happened since 1982, won't happen 9 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:36,530 again until 2033. So Sunday night's a really great opportunity to go out 10 00:00:36,550 --> 00:00:40,610 and see a beautiful moon change right before your eyes. It's going to be a 11 00:00:40,630 --> 00:00:44,660 beautiful show. 12 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,690 No sound 13 00:00:48,710 --> 00:00:52,700 The moon will be fairly high in the sky when it goes into eclipse. 14 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,730 You don't need to worry about too far away from trees, but you want to be able to have a pretty good 15 00:00:56,750 --> 00:01:00,760 view to the sky and just sit back and enjoy the show. 16 00:01:00,780 --> 00:01:04,790 No sound 17 00:01:04,810 --> 00:01:08,820 No sound 18 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,870 Measuring the temperature of the surface of the moon especially during the eclipse is a really 19 00:01:12,890 --> 00:01:16,890 important thing because with that measurement we can learn about the 20 00:01:16,910 --> 00:01:20,940 characteristics, the properties of the surface of the moon. And particularly during an eclipse 21 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:25,140 we learn about the upper, upper most surface. So what we see is that surface 22 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:29,170 that stays warm longer generally have larger blocks or 23 00:01:29,190 --> 00:01:33,230 smaller pebbles and things like that. Where surfaces that cool off very quickly have 24 00:01:33,250 --> 00:01:37,300 smaller sand-sized particals and so by measuring how the surface 25 00:01:37,320 --> 00:01:41,480 of the moon, the temperature of the surface of the moon changes during an eclipse, we learn about 26 00:01:41,500 --> 00:01:45,520 the makeup of the surface of the moon. How the structure 27 00:01:45,540 --> 00:01:49,540 of the surface. And we can't do that normally. So it's these 28 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,730 eclipses that give us a really, really unique opportunity to make specific 29 00:01:53,750 --> 00:01:57,750 measurements about the surface that we just can't do at any other time. 30 00:01:57,770 --> 00:02:01,780 No sound 31 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,780 So the Lunar Reconnaissance 32 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,970 Orbiter has been at the moon now for over six years. And in those six years we've 33 00:02:09,990 --> 00:02:13,970 learned an incredible amount about the surface of the moon and the lunar 34 00:02:13,990 --> 00:02:18,000 environment. What we've seen that's most surprising that the moon is in fact a dynamic place 35 00:02:18,020 --> 00:02:22,190 We're seeing changes on the surface on the moon that are occuring in the time that LRO has been 36 00:02:22,210 --> 00:02:26,230 at the moon. We're seeing new impact craters that have formed in the six years that we've been there. 37 00:02:26,250 --> 00:02:30,420 We're seeing the evidence of migrating water across the surface 38 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:34,450 Not a lot of water. A small amount of water. But still the view that the moon is a 39 00:02:34,470 --> 00:02:38,460 static unchanging place is now completely different. 40 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,470 With the eyes of LRO right at the surface of the moon, we're able to see that 41 00:02:42,490 --> 00:02:46,520 there are incredible amount of changes going on revealing that the moon is 42 00:02:46,540 --> 00:02:50,710 far more dynamic than we ever knew before. 43 00:02:50,730 --> 00:02:54,710 No sound 44 00:02:54,730 --> 00:02:58,740 Some of the coolest things that we've learned about the moon is that there's been 45 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,760 evidence for volcanism that occured on the moon far more recently than 46 00:03:02,780 --> 00:03:06,770 we ever knew before. So for instance before LRO launched we thought that 47 00:03:06,790 --> 00:03:10,770 volcanism on the moon ended about a billion years ago. Now we have evidence for 48 00:03:10,790 --> 00:03:16,600 that volcanism may have occured as recently as recently as a hundred million year ago or perhaps even 49 00:03:16,620 --> 00:03:20,630 more recently than that. And that's surprising because that changes our entire view of how the interior heat 50 00:03:20,650 --> 00:03:24,820 of the moon has disapated over time. 51 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:28,840 No sound 52 00:03:28,860 --> 00:03:32,870 LRO data and the results from LRO have completely rewritten 53 00:03:32,890 --> 00:03:36,900 the textbooks of what we know about the moon. I think the moon 54 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:40,920 that we knew before LRO is now completely different. Of course the moon hasn't changed it's just 55 00:03:40,940 --> 00:03:44,940 our understanding of it. But the data that we've gotten from LRO 56 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:49,120 has led to profound changes in how we view the moon and how 57 00:03:49,140 --> 00:03:53,130 view the moon in the future. And you know the great thing about 58 00:03:53,150 --> 00:03:57,160 the LRO data is that we're studying it now, but it's going to be 59 00:03:57,180 --> 00:04:01,170 a data set and a legacy that will last for generations to come in our understanding 60 00:04:01,190 --> 00:04:05,190 of the moon. 61 00:04:05,210 --> 00:04:09,380 No sound 62 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:13,410 People should care about the moon because it's our neighbor 63 00:04:13,430 --> 00:04:17,460 in the sky. It's actually very close to the Earth compared to the 64 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:21,600 distances to other objects in the solar system. And by studying the moon we can learn a lot 65 00:04:21,620 --> 00:04:25,800 about the history of the Earth. You know if you look surface of the moon there are 66 00:04:25,820 --> 00:04:29,830 places on the moon where we have rocks that are four-and-a-half billion 67 00:04:29,850 --> 00:04:33,850 years old. And so by looking at the moon we can learn about the earliest history of the solar 68 00:04:33,870 --> 00:04:37,880 system. The record of that portion of time in our solar system is almost all but 69 00:04:37,900 --> 00:04:41,900 gone from the Earth. So in order to understand what was happening just after the 70 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:45,950 planets formed studying the surface of the moon is one of the most interesting and best 71 00:04:45,970 --> 00:04:49,970 places to do that. So when we look at moon we're really looking into 72 00:04:49,990 --> 00:04:53,980 the deep history of the Earth as well and I think from that we can learn a lot about 73 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:59,012 how our planet has changed and how all planets have changed over time.