Moon

"Apollo 13" star Tom Hanks is set to return to the moon, teaming up with big-screen movie firm Imax Corp. to produce a 3-D documentary about NASA's historic lunar voyages. Imax said Wednesday that the two-time Oscar winner will co-produce and likely narrate "Magnificent Desolation," which will use never-before-seen photographs and previously unreleased NASA footage. Hanks and Imax first announced plans for the project in December 2002, but the 45-minute movie is now on track for a 2005 release.

Scott Scott doesn't believe darkness should get in the way of a good hike. "I think a moonrise is just as spectacular as a sunrise," says the Palm Springs guide, who starts hiking at dusk at this time of year. Unless you live in the northern latitudes where folks enjoy extra-late sunsets, it's lights out by 7 p.m. in Southern California. But shorter days don't have to mean shorter time outdoors. On full moon nights, you can ride, hike, surf or kayak -- often without a flashlight.

The U.S. government has won back a tiny lump of 3.9-billion-year-old moon rock brought to Earth by the crew of Apollo 17 and stolen years ago from the government of Honduras, U.S. officials said Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan in Miami granted the U.S. government forfeiture on the grounds that the grape-sized rock was stolen and smuggled into the United States. Jordan ruled that although given to Honduras in 1973, the U.S. still legally owned the rock.

Half the people trying to view Saturday's lunar eclipse will miss it because they'll forget to look up. Honest, says John Mosley, a Griffith Observatory astronomer who says the No. 1 piece of advice he gives is "remember to look up." If you don't forget, the rest is easy. Saturday's total lunar eclipse is the second and last of the year -- the first was in May. Another one won't appear here until next October. After that, those of us in the U.S. will have to wait until March 2007.

The most exacting analysis yet of the moon's mysterious polar craters found no sign of the vast expanses of ice that scientists had hoped future lunar colonists could someday mine for precious, life-sustaining water. The findings do not mean there is no ice in the permanently shaded craters. But if there is ice, it is probably mixed into the lunar soil in widely scattered flecks or in thin layers.

Three student employees and another man were charged with stealing a safe full of moon rocks and meteorites from the Johnson Space Center in Houston and trying to sell them, the FBI office in Tampa said. The items offered for sale by the suspected thieves were kept in a 600-pound safe that was noticed missing July 15, space center spokesman Kyle Herring said. The safe contained lunar samples from every Apollo moon landing.

After a 30-year hiatus, the United States looks to be going to the moon again. Only this time, the government will have nothing to do with it. And instead of trying to touch down gently on the lunar surface, the idea now is to crash the craft, scattering business cards and bric-a-brac everywhere. San Diego-based TransOrbital Inc. came one step closer to its long-planned moon mission Tuesday when it signed a $20-million contract with Russian space company Kosmotras.

A historic split on when to observe a key Islamic holiday this week left many worshipers across Southern California bewildered and upset, but also hinted at the growing influence of American Muslims in the Islamic world. At the heart of the division is a seemingly simple question: When can you catch sight of the new moon? But a large block of American mosques--relying more on science and less on the human eye--this year came to a different conclusion from authorities in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

For the first time in 46 years, tonight's Halloween ghosts and goblins can trick or treat by the light of a full moon. They won't get another chance until 2020, astronomers said. The full moon will look like an orange jack-o'-lantern rising from the east at dusk, said Jack Horkheimer, executive director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium. It will appear orange at the horizon because it is seen through denser layers of the earth's atmosphere.

I would like to thank Jerry Haines for his accuracy in describing one of my dearest cities, Ouro Preto ("Striking Gold in Brazil," Aug. 26). As a Brazilian who has lived abroad for a long time, sometimes looking at pictures or watching movies like the one described in the article ("Moon Over Parador"), I miss places I once visited. To know a little bit about history in Brazil, do what Haines did: Forget the big cities and go directly to the historic cities. You won't be disappointed.