Astronomy November 2019

Buy More, Save More: 2 Back Issues – Save 5% (use code: MAGAZINES5) 3-4 Back Issues – Save 10% (use code: MAGAZINES10) 5+ Back Issues – Save 15% (use code: MAGAZINES15) Features Apollo 12: 50 years later This mission launched during a thunderstorm and landed in the Ocean of Storms, but it had smooth sailing the rest of the way. Richard Talcott Apollo 12 in 3D Four months after the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing, Pete Conrad and Alan Bean became the second human crew to visit the lunar surface. David J. Eicher and Brian May Sky This Month Mercury transits the Sun Martin Ratcliffe and Alister Ling StarDome and Path of the Planets Richard Talcott; Illustrations by Roen Kelly The Moon’s violet origin Apollo astronauts returned nearly 842 pounds of Moon rocks to Earth. These precious samples have revealed a lot about the Moon’s past. Robin Canup Observe the transit of Mercury If you miss the November 11 lineup, you’ll have to wait another 13 years to try again. Dean Regas Visions of the 2019 eclipse The July 2 total solar eclipse inspired many breathtaking images. Here are our top picks. Michael E. Bakich We test Nikon’s new astrocamera With 24 megapixels of resolution, Wi-Fi, and a vast ISO range, the D750 was built to shoot the night sky. Tony Hallas Ask Astro Why the planets spin.