GreenBucks

There is something about the moon that mesmerizes me, and a whole lot of people. I do not consult a moon calendar to know when the full moon will occur.

Last Thursday night I was fortunate to be able to see the moon in its full moon stage.

I do not know why but I think that the skies during the cold months from November – February seem to be the best time to look at the moon and the stars.

I think I got this idea because when I was younger, I used to spend a few days (and nights) camping with young people from church usually from December 26th up to December 30th. We stayed near the beach where there were no lights coming from nearby houses because these were far away.

The sky was teeming with stars and the moonbeams reflect on the sea waters. Perfect.

Thus begun my affiliation with the moon, not that it affected me and my moods like what stories have foretold long ago.

Below is my November 13, 2008 full moon photo:

There is a move, by the way, about Dark Skies Awareness because 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy.

This is interesting for several reasons. Foremost would be for people to be more aware of the stars in the sky during nighttime.  Children nowadays only know of stars as yellow five-pointed shapes but the question is: Have they really seen these stars in the sky at night?

I don’t think so. Every time we are out, we make it a point to tell the children to look up, see the moon and the stars up above.

But more often than not, we do not see the stars because the city lights are so bright that the sky is not too dark for the stars to make themselves known. This is called Light Pollution.

Read more about Light Pollution here.

Tags: Dark Skies, Full Moon, Light Pollution, moon, nght, sky

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