Howling at the Moon

Howling at the Moon: Our Relationship with Earth’s Nearest Neighbor in Space

For thousands of years, the moon dominated our night, just as the sun does the day. For nearly all life on Earth, it still does.

As humans evolved, the moon played a significant role in the way we learned to observe seasonal events and planned hunting and gathering activities. As humans developed civilization, the moon helped us to shape our concept of time and plan agricultural activities. Throughout human history, the moon has influenced activities ranging from art to war. How so?

The Earth’s moon presence or absence is nearly impossible to ignore if you go outside at night. Throughout human history, it was been the subject of imaginative stories, poems, songs, and myths. We gazed at the moon with our naked eye for millennia, then with enhanced optical instruments and with other detectors over the last century. What did we see?

The moon sometimes seems so close that we can touch it! We do not know when the first human imagined going to the moon, but we know when technology made it possible. Many nations have developed programs to visit the moon and several have succeeded. What did we find?

Returning humans to the moon after a fifty year absence has become part of the news in the last decade. How might we do this and why?   

Presentation by Dr. Phil Youngblood