Astronomy Scrapbook Sunday 17th November 2013

The Full Moon today is the Frost Moon, all of the full moons during the course of the year have their own special name. These names go back to the monastic period in English history during the medieval ages.  The November Full Moon is called the frost moon because this is usually when the frosts occur in England.

The Leonid Meteor shower will peak tonight, with the Full Moon and an activity of about 10 meteors per hour it will not be too spectacular.

On This Day
November 17th 1970

Lunokhod 1 the first automated rover to land on another celestial body. The spacecraft soft landed on the Moon in the Sea of Rains.  During its 322 Earth days of operations, Lunokhod travelled 10,540 metres (6.55 miles) and returned more than 20,000 TV images and 206 high-resolution panoramas.

Lunokhod 1 was a lunar vehicle formed of a tub-like compartment with a large convex lid on eight independently powered wheels. Its length was 2.3 metres (7 ft 7 in). Lunokhod was equipped with a cone-shaped antenna a highly directional helical antenna, four television cameras, and special extendable devices to test the lunar soil, for soil density and mechanical property tests.