Moon, what do you make of the fresh tone of the Republican debates tonight?
The moon doesn't speak. I don't know. A slither descended softly and early in the night and stayed a sliver but shows the light that it collects around itself on the sensor, the receiver. That's what the moon says. But what do moons know about politics? I shouldn't have asked.
9 comments:
A photographer friend tells me the trick is to remember the moon is not itself a light source. It is a giant reflector of light from the sun, and to set your exposure as you would for any reflected object.
Nice peaceful pic, thanks.
I like those shades of blue.
That is an awesome image.
Every time I look up at the stars, I think about how humans managed to get so smart about the heavens, how long ago they figured out the movement, distance, and size of objects they could barely see, and all with the magic of mathematics. These surely were ancient men of very high IQ and discipline. Even today, it seems incredible that we can know so much about things we can't see, and that we can guide a vehicle to a foreign planet accurately enough to land it softly there, to fire a bullet so precisely that it runs out of energy just in time to get there spent after all the forces in between have acted. I'm a numbers guy, but my understanding of math at that level makes it seem like magic. I really regret never learning the math that gets that done.
AprilApple said...I like those shades of blue.
Me too
Bags- I know right? Astrology is like the slightly embarrassing wacky older sister of astronomy. Astrology is trying to explain observed phenomenon and is trying to make predictions about the future. 5000 years ago it would be very important information to know if it is too early to plant beans or wait another week, and the star gazer would tell you that you should not plant till those two stars in this constellation were below the horizon. If he made up a pretty story to help remember the rule about when to plant beans then fine.
Beautiful. I love these time lapse skies that Chip does.
The night skies where we live are spectacular. There isn't any ambient light. No street lamps. No lit up signs. No very near neighbors with lights polluting the skies. Unless I have a porch light on it is dark.
We can always tell when it is a full moon just by how very bright it is outside. Instead of darkness, we can see. See the trees casting shadows at midnight. See the foxes and raccoons ambling about doing whatever mysterious things they do at night. Casting shadows as well. Looking at the moon with a spotting scope makes it so close that you can feel like you could touch it.
On nights when there isn't a moon, if you step outside and look at the skies the stars are incredible. The milky way is so bright. Millions of stars! If I knew enough about it, I would be able to find the constellations, the zodiac signs. It makes me think about our ancient ancestors who also had no light at night other than a fire that they learned to build. No wonder they made Gods out of the stars and fables about the mystery of the Universe.
People who live in cities and who have never spent a summers night outside under the clear sparkling skies are really missing out. It is amazing and entirely humbling.
Unfortunately, it has been raining and cloudy for days and we can't see anything.
Very nice, Chip. My father was a science teacher and one class he taught was astronomy. As a kid he used to take us out at night to look at the stars, but I never appreciated it and wanted to go back in and watch television.
Now I find myself sitting in the backyard at night looking up, using a phone app as a crutch to identify the pale constellations you can barely make out here in the East Coast Megalopolis. When something is really clear and obvious, like Orion's belt, I make my kids come out to see. Maybe a seed will be planted, who knows.
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