Interesting Facts

Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin spent a total of 21 hours on the Moon, two-and-a-half of them outside the landing module.  They left a plaque, which read, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind." " Neil Armstrong pose ".  via  Wikimedia Commons . (The astronauts, including Michael Collins, returned to Earth on 24th July, where they spent the next 21 days in quarantine at an American military base - a procedure dropped in subsequent missions since no alien organisms were found.)

According to astronomer Parke Kunkle, the zodiac signs you were supposedly born into are different now because the Earth's wobble on its axis has created a one-month bump in the alignment of the stars. (Because of the moon’s gravitational pull, Earth is currently in a different spot in relation to the sun, and its equatorial alignment has changed from 3,000 years ago when the study of astrology began -- back when 12 zodiac signs were assigned to 12 different periods of the year. Which means that a Virgo may now be a Leo, an Aquarius - a Capricorn, and a Taurus - an Aries. To confuse matters even further, he added a new horoscope, Ophiuchus. So using this theory your "up to date" horoscope, reflecting where the stars currently are aligned, is:- Capricorn: Jan. 20 - Feb. 16 Aquarius: Feb. 16 - March 11 Pisces: March 11- April 18 Aries: April 18- May 13 Taurus: May 13- June 21 Gemini: June 21- July 20 Cancer: July 20- Aug. 10 Leo: Aug. 10- Sept. 16 Virgo: Sept. 16- Oct. 30

Experts from the University of Bern in Switzerland, believe that the Earth was originally orbited by two moons. (The researchers are attempting to explain why the far side of the Moon has a thick, mountainous crust while the near side is flat. The mountainous far side of the moon:- The smoother near side of the moon:- The theory is that the smaller moon was absorbed into the larger when they smashed together in slow motion, around 4.4 billion years ago.

According to curators at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, a treasured piece on display - a supposed moon rock from the first manned lunar landing - is nothing more than a piece of petrified wood. (It was given to former Prime Minister Willem Drees during a goodwill tour by the three Apollo-11 astronauts shortly after their moon mission in 1969. Seemingly NASA gave 'moon rocks' to more than 100 countries following lunar missions in the 1970s. They might want to check them out. The Rijksmuseum, which is perhaps better known for paintings by artists such as Rembrandt, says it will keep the piece as a curiosity.) Source: BBC News

According to a linguistic study Neil Armstrong missed out an "a" and didn't say "one small step for a man" when he set foot on the moon. (I prefer the idea that he spoke for all of mankind, regardless of what he did or didn't mean to say. And I can still remember the sight of him taking that small step. Yes, I'm that old.)

The Moon's distance from the Earth can vary by about 30,000km. (The Moon's orbit is eliptic, it does not follow a circular but rather an oval path. This means that its distance from the Earth is not constant.)

The moon Phobos, which orbits the planet mars, is shaped like a potato. (Who knows? It might even be a potato, after all we've never been there.)

No-one knows exactly when the new moon appears as it changes in different parts of the world. (Scientists are looking into this now, but as of today it's still a fact.)