1/15/2021 – Ephemeris – What the Chinese Chang’e 5 lunar mission found

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Monday, November 15th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 5:14, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:41. The Moon, halfway from first quarter to full, will set at 4:45 tomorrow morning. | Late last year, the Chinese sent an uncrewed spacecraft to the Moon to collect samples of the surface material. That material is called regolith, and they drilled down at least a meter, which they returned to the Earth. An international team of geologists has been studying the material, and we have the first reports. Apparently the material they picked up was dated at 2 billion years, which is an intermediate age to the material picked up by the Apollo missions that dates either 3 billion years or older or 1 billion years. That helps fill gaps in the Moon’s history. Of course, all the material in the solar system is 4.5 billion years old. But the radioactive dating clock is reset when a rock is melted and solidifies.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Chang’e 5 Landing-Site on full moon map. Created using Virtual Mon Atlas.