Yesterday was a dull day. A light snow fell for much of it from a heavily overcast sky, dulling what little light we had. But as I drove down last night to Leah’s mom’s to pick up her and Travis, the sky had cleared and it was a crisp, bright evening, calm and calming.
The moon was almost full, having just started waning, and the land was brightly lit so you could easily make out its features. It is truly amazing how much light the moon reflects at us, when it is unencumbered by cloudy or smoky skies. The snow cover then reflects all of this moonlight even more.
The moon, the planets, the stars and these moonlit scenes are mesmerizing. People pause, and look around, drinking it all in. Two days ago, when a similar sky lit up the landscape I went to get Gary from the house, as supper was past ready. I thought he must have left for somewhere else, as the House was in darkness, but he was sitting in the dark, at the top of the stairs, taking in the beauty of the scene before him through the Great room’s windows.
The title of this post, by the way, is a nod to Dianne Ackerman and her excellent book of nature essays, The Moon by Whalelight.
Comments
4 responses
Why is it the case that the moon is above your horizon if the sun is not? Do you have long periods of time without the moon? (I guess my astronomy knowledge needs boosting.)
I guess the simplest answer is that the moon orbits the earth and the earth orbits the sun. We “lose” the sun because the earth is tilted on a 23 and a third degree angle. As the earth orbits the sun we start to angle away from her rays (which is also why its cooler in the winter even though the earth is closer to the sun, the rays hit us less directly). Those of us that are within 23 1/3 degrees of the pole end up hidden from the sun, and in shadow (hence the Arctic and Antarctic Circles at 66 2/3 degrees the point at which the sun doesn’t crest the horizon for at least one day of the year).
The moon however rotates on basically the same plane in relation to the earth and so is visible as always. Actually we end up seeing much more of the moon (and stars and planets) than most during the winter because of the darkness.
The moon was heavily veiled here, but tonight, that lovely misty sky let it peek through. Thank you for reminding us to stop and take it all in!
Thanks Clare! I guess if I would have thought a few more minutes…but I didn’t. I think I need to pay more attention to the the moon and planets.