I was reading the BBC news tonight and the mentioned that it is the 46
th anniversary of the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey so I had to dig it out and watch it yet again. It is one of a handful of movies that I return to time and again.
While watching the opening of the space scenes I saw the picture of Haywood's space capsule in transit from the orbiting transit point to the Moon and thought that moon looks close to the current state of the Moon today, not that I have seen the Moon today or any time in the recent past.
2001: A Space Odyssey graphicSo after the movie was over, which was a long 2 1/4 hours but worth it if for the music alone, I dug out my Observers Handbook and did verify the similarity so fired up Stelarium to grab a quick image.
Stelarium graphicContinuity leaves something to be desired here. When Hayward approaches the transfer station on his urgent fact-finding mission to the Moon the Moon is just approaching full so for it to be just past First Quarter when he leaves the transfer station he must have stayed there at least 20 days.
I also found it interesting that there was an intermission in the middle of the Jupiter mission.
2001: A Space Odyssey graphic
