Sept. 14 is International Observe the Moon Night. UW-Milwaukee’s Manfred Olson planetarium will be marking the occasion that evening both indoors and out to help people learn about the Moon and appreciate the personal and cultural connections we have with it.
"One of the reasons why everybody on the planet feels some connection to the Moon is that for many thousands of years that was a source of light at night time," notes Lake Effect astronomy contributor Jean Creighton. She says that the upcoming event at the planetarium will also explore the principal connection of the Moon to calendars.
"People around the world in a variety of contexts use the Lunar calendar to determine their holidays, their feasts, their celebrations, and you know they plan life around it. Well, that's pretty profound that the moon is actually your timekeeper," says Creighton.
The Moon is also one of the few celestial objects that we can observe with the naked eye to see the constant changes it undergoes. The event will also explore the significance of current and future exploration of the Moon — from the unmanned Artemis I rocket, Artemis II and the upcoming Artemis III mission that will send a crew to the surface that includes "for the first time a woman and a person of color, 50-some years after the last time a person stood on the Moon," notes Creighton.
Weather permitting the planetarium will also have telescopes and binoculars for the public to use and see the Moon. "I have to confess that for me, my very first time I looked through a telescope to see the moon my socks were just blown off, I was so impressed," recalls Creighton. "And it might not sound intuitive because I went on to study galaxies and star formations and all kinds of cool things. But there was something so crisp and so immediate that I could touch the moon that I never forgot it. And I think if I can give that experience to others, that’s a real gift."
