November Moon – so many thoughts come to mind. I was aware the year’s largest Super Moon will be full on November 14, but will rise the largest on November 13. Yesterday, November 10, driving home around 3:00 or 4:00, I noticed the moon was well above the Sandia Mountains, and still appeared HUGE in the daylight. I did not get a photograph yesterday, but friend Tim Price posted a fabulous shot on his blog.
Today I made a point of being home in the late afternoon. I wanted to try to photograph the moon in daylight over the mountains and fall foliage. Have I ever said how much I love New Mexico?
November Moon Over Sandia Mountains, Prelude to Super Moon Full Moon
Moon and Jupiter are among the brightest objects we see in the night sky. The rising sun, with its brightness, washes them out. Just before sunrise on October 28, 2016, they appeared close together.
Moon and Jupiter Just Before Sunrise
The skies here in Albuquerque have been clear at sunrise recently, and I have missed the colors. Today, at first, though, I was a little disappointed to see the moon and stars somewhat obscured by light clouds. As the sun began to rise, however, I was delighted to see the reds, oranges, and blues develop above the silhouetted Sandia Mountains.
I have much clearer images of the alignment of Venus, Jupiter, and Mars from several months ago than of today’s phenomenon. But for sheer beauty, at least to my eye, I’ll take today’s pre-dawn Albuquerque sky.
Winter solstice, the day with the least daylight hours in the year in the Northern Hemisphere, is December 22 this year. It also marks the “official” beginning of Winter. Even when I was young, it struck me that Solstice should actually mark the middle of Winter, although I will admit that weather-wise for me, the six weeks after Solstice are usually more wintry than the six weeks before. But, even by mid-January the increasing length of daylight is readily apparent. In my view of Light and Seasons, things would be so much more organized if Solstice marked the middle point of Winter.
So, just because I can, I chose to make Winter Solstice the halfway point in Persephone’s stay in the Underworld, whether her stay is 3 months, 4 months, or 6 months (different versions give different lengths of time).
Seasonal change is a major theme in the Persephone myth, the cycle of life, repeated over and over. I have had the opportunity this year to witness and photograph some remarkable celestial events. The Blood Red Total Lunar Eclipse of September 27, 2015 is one such event that I’ll not soon forget. In this image, the cyclic nature of seasonal changes is represented by different stages of that lunar eclipse, with the totality of the eclipse representing Solstice. The images from the eclipse are real and they are mine. The sequence from left to right is real. The way they are used here comes from my imagination.
Turn, Turn, Turn
In the dark days of Winter, it would not be unusual for thoughts to turn every now and then to a return to Light. That doesn’t mean those thoughts would be constant or overtake over all others. Just little flashes that occasionally cross the mind.
The Persephone of this picture story, at the Solstice, the halfway mark of her visit to the Underworld, has no regrets.
More Sky Show with Venus and Jupiter and Now Including the Moon
More sky show with the planets Venus and Jupiter today included a crescent moon at 6:09am MST. Dawns began with crystal clear skies over the Sandia Mountains. The bright object closest to the mountains is the moon; then Venus; then in the upper right hand corner, Jupiter.
More Sky Show: Moon, Venus, Jupiter over Sandia Mountains at Dawn
Check out Sky and Telescope for celestial events you might want to look for this week. I missed some in the past few days, partly because of cloudy skies and partly because I slept through them. 🙂
As long as I have lived in New Mexico and as old as I have grown to be, I never cease to be amazed at the constantly changing and ever-beautiful skies of my adopted state.
Spooky full moon – the words themselves make me think more of Halloween than a beautiful spring evening.
As the moon rose over the mountains, it was initially simply a beautiful moon.
Clear Sky and Beautiful Rising Moon
Very quickly, however, clouds began to move in, with some possibility of rain overnight. At the first appearance of the clouds, the moon did not appear too spooky.
Moon and Clouds
But, in a very short period of time, the moon with heavier clouds definitely had a spooky appearance.
Spooky Moon and Clouds
It really is a beautiful spring evening, although that is not the mood conveyed in the last image.
Blood red moon is an interesting phenomenon that can occur during a total lunar eclipse. Such an eclipse occurred early this morning, April 4, and was visible in Albuquerque.
Lunar eclipse, blood red moon
I had set out my tripod and gotten my camera ready before I went to bed last night, but did not set the alarm. I’m generally awake quite early. Today I did not awaken until 5:20 am, but that actually turned out to be okay.
The totality of this eclipse was short, less than five minutes. By contrast, the length of another total eclipse coming up in September is predicted to be roughly one hour and twelve minutes. That one will not be visible where I live, unfortunately.
However, I did get to see this one on April 4, which made me very happy. An auspicious beginning to this day…
