Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2020 September 5

                               A Falcon 9 Moon
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Katie Darby

   Explanation: Illuminating planet Earth's night, full moons can have
   many names. This year the last full moon of northern hemisphere summer
   was on September 2, known to some as the Full Corn Moon. A few days
   earlier on August 30 this almost full moon rose just before sunset
   though, shining through cloudy skies over Cape Canaveral Air Force
   Station on Florida's Space Coast. A well-timed snapshot caught the
   glare of rocket engines firing below the lunar disk, a Falcon 9
   rocket's first stage successfully returning to Cape Canaveral's landing
   zone 1. About 9 minutes earlier, the same SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket had
   launched the SAOCOM 1B satellite toward polar orbit. The fourth launch
   for this reusable Falcon 9 first stage, it was the first launch to a
   polar orbit from Cape Canaveral since 1969.

                   Tomorrow's picture: a cosmic crustacean
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.


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