It’s years ago, probably the late 70’s and I lived in L.A. as an artist and my favorite recreation is back packing so I’m up with a couple of buddies on the tallest mountain is southern California: San Grogonio, 11,500’ above sea level. By taking a secuitous route and a couple of days we’ve arrived on the summit late in the afternoon and just thrown our packs to the ground in exhaustion. After a rest and probably water etc. we rise to look around. The views in the nearing sunset are spectacular. To the north we look down on Big Bear, it’s lake, forests and the deserts beyond. To the west we see the outstretched range of mountains, the king of which we are on, going to the ocean. Mount Baldy is the highest along this range after us a “mere” 10,500 feet. Beneath the warm sun is L.A. and it’s smog which is glowing with sun and has the weird and beautiful influence of a reflection from the ocean way out which we can’t even see except by effect. To the south of us is the sister peak to San G. which is San Jacento almost as high as San G. just above Palm Springs, then a small town with deserts all around. To the west is the high desert: Joshua Tree with all it’s boulders and beauty in the warmth of the setting sun. And out from us going east is the triangular shadow of San G. We can see the peak which is the point we are on so clearly we feel like waving and can imagine our waving shadows some 40 or 50 miles away. Of course, we see nothing but our imaginations. Then it really begins: the magic and the insight. The point of that huge triangular shadow reaches the horizon line. We are spinning around watching the gorgeous sunset the long shadows and yelling and dancing with delight when right where the shadow point hits the horizon line above Joshua Tree there’s a light, no a part circle, no the full moon rising!!!! Spinning around the sun is setting in the west simultaneously with the rising fullest of full moons. We’re going ballistic with shrieks and jumping and ooo’s and ahhh’s and “did you see that’s.” Suddenly to all of us it occurs to us that we are on a huge spinning ball, the earth, right on the edge where half of the ball is light and half dark. And off in one direction is the sun, also spinning way out in space is lighting that side. And way off on the other is the moon not bright enough to light that side. Right hand, left hand and our feet below. We’re blown out to actually experience the movements of the sphere’s in our solar system. We see it. We get it. We feel it. Then, like icing on the cake, we notice as the moon climbs into the sky it is flanked just below by a tangible dark arch that gradually rises with it. It is the edge of night. Lighter sky above still in the sun’s rays, darker below the shadow of the earth creating the night sky. That arch overtakes the moon and continues to slowly fill the sky. It’s not too long before stars begin to appear. We’ve seen the cosmos at work, night, not falling as they say, but rising into the sky. By now we’re cooking our dinner and never too far from our conversation is the miracle we’ve just experienced and the new found sense of our place in the universe revealed. The Vernal Equinox is on March 21st. half way towards the summer Solstice which is on the 21st of June. greeley

Sometimes you’ve probably noticed the dark side of a crescent moon is actually glowing dimly.  That’s earth shine.  Sunlight hits the earth and bounces back through space to the moons “dark side” and filling it with a subtle and beautiful light. This is also fairly rare sight.  These sightings are most common during  young spring evening’s crescent moons and autumn morning’s crescent moons.  So we have a good spring opportunity for this sighting.

It’s taken me decades of looking at the night sky to finally ask what is it about the moon that it moves up and down in the sky so unlike the sun’s predictable high in summer warmth and low and cold in the winter.  Well it goes like this:  The moon moves in that same sunly pattern but each month, instead of over a year.  Moving from high to low and back again.  We go around the sun in a year, the moon goes around us in a month!  The full moons in winter are high when the sun is low and in summer when the sun is high the full moons are low!  Go figure…..  With snow on the ground that high full winter moon light can feel almost like a dim cool sun putting shadows under trees and all objects, sometimes sparkling the snow with it’s brightness.  It can be stunningly beautiful on a cold still winter night.  You could almost read by it if you could stand the cold!

Here’s another moon conundrum.  If the moon’s small and the sun huge why are they the same size in our sky?  Well there are some marvelous celestial mechanics at work to explain this one:  The sun is 400 times larger than the moon and it is simultaneously 400 times farther away.  The two facts cancel each other out and make them appear the same size to our eyes.  I think that’s just amazing.  The great creator has given us such magic and beauty!  It took human kind a long time to figure that one out.  Actually historically the ancients had figured that out and then the knowledge was lost till fairly  recent history.

Here’s a last moon mystery for you.  Why do low full moons seem so much bigger when close to the earth than when they’ve risen to mid sky?  Well it’s context that gives the illusion.  When you can compare the moon to things mountains, trees, buildings, etc. it appears large.  When it’s the only thing in large expanse of empty sky it seems diminished in size and therefore small.  In fact it’s the same size just the context [what’s around it] has changed.

It’s fun to look up and notice the marvelous universe and solar system we live in.  It’s my hope that these night time observations and tidbits tempt you out a bit more and urge you to look up and observe when you are out.  There’s this large wonderful universe up there to be enjoyed.

One last detail.  The week of April 17 – 24th is National Dark Sky Week.  It begun in 2003 to bring attention to night sky light pollution.  Many places have almost lost their night skies.  See www.ndsw.org for details and easy solutions.  Let’s stop light pollution!