march: earth's second moon

Apart from the Moon, the Earth has many other satellites... all of them artificial! For the last fifteen years the largest of these has been the Russian space station Mir.

This month will see the end of an era, as the troubled station is brought back to Earth. There is still a little time left to see Mir, as it hurtles 200 miles above the planet, orbiting once every 90 minutes. For pass predictions, follow the instructions on the excellent Heavens Above site.

This photograph, taken from the space shuttle Discovery, shows both of Earth's largest Moons.

Image: STS-91 Crew, NASA.