The Moon

[Thumper]

Crystal clear skies yesterday and overnight. Beautiful full moon leading Jupiter this morning.

[grapes]

Tonight, around ten o'clock, Jupiter should lead the moon!

[Thumper]

Yep!

[Thumper]

Tonight, around ten o'clock, Jupiter should lead the moon!

And by golly it was leading the Moon this morning. I swear I could see it stretching its lead between the time I got up and the time I got to work. Beautiful clear sky again this morning.

[Thumper]

Awesome mostly full Moon this morning in the pre dawn skies. Although we have had some sun the last couple of days, the skies have been mostly cloudy all week. So the huge Moon hanging low in the clear, brightening sky was awesome. As I got to work and the sun was coming up, the Moon seemed to sit on top of the Band of Venus; remarkable colors and contrasts. I was almost glad I was forced to get up and head into work this morning.

[SciFiFisher]

Awesome mostly full Moon this morning in the pre dawn skies. Although we have had some sun the last couple of days, the skies have been mostly cloudy all week. So the huge Moon hanging low in the clear, brightening sky was awesome. As I got to work and the sun was coming up, the Moon seemed to sit on top of the Band of Venus; remarkable colors and contrasts. I was almost glad I was forced to get up and head into work this morning.

almost.

[Thumper]

Yet another "super moon" this morning. I didn't expect to see it at all. But by the time I went to bed the clouds finally dispersed. On the commute to work, it was flirting with high clouds. The back illumination of the clouds was spectacular. Then as I got closer to work, it disappeared again.

[geonuc]

It was blazing brightly into the bedroom this morning.

[Thumper]

Lived up to its billing as the "brightest moon of the year."

[Rommie]

It was a good one! We were driving west last evening and I caught the thing in the rearview mirror. I know objects in mirror are closer than they appear, but that was a big looking moon!

[Thumper]

As I was creeping up the driveway this morning, I was distracted by a bright light behind the pines. As I got up to the road, a huge orange moon hung over the neighbor's house. It looked so close I felt I could reach out and touch it. It will be full Wednesday on the equinox. As I got close to work, it was dancing with a cloud bank low on the western horizon.

[geonuc]

Equinox already? How time flies. Soon it will be winter again.

[pumpkinpi]

Oh, how I love the equinox. Even though weather varies around the world, it's satisfying that we commit to the passage of time being based on predictable celestial cycles.
We are halfway to the solstice, and the Sun will be setting later and later until then. (I actually get a little sad on the first day of summer, because we start losing daylight. but the converse is what gives me hope on the first day of winter.)

It humors me that the date of Easter is chosen to be the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the vernal equinox. So it's as late as it can ever be this year.

Oh, and it's Rooster's birthday!

[Thumper]

Woo hoo!

[grapes]

It humors me that the date of Easter is chosen to be the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the vernal equinox. So it's as late as it can ever be this year.

Unless, the equinox/full moon is on a Monday, or even sunday

Wait, does that make it early, or late?? DST makes me so crazy

[pumpkinpi]

It humors me that the date of Easter is chosen to be the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the vernal equinox. So it's as late as it can ever be this year.

Unless, the equinox/full moon is on a Monday, or even sunday

Wait, does that make it early, or late?? DST makes me so crazy

Oh yeah, I didn't take that into account. So the lastest possibile Easter is April 25.

I wonder if "after" could mean if the instant the Moon was full came 1 second after the equinox, that you would count that full Moon. In that case, if the equinox were Saturday then Easter would be March 21.

Wikipedia to the rescue: yes, Easter can be the day after the equinox. But March 21 is "the ecclesiastical fixed date for the Spring Equinox" so it will never be earlier than March 22. That means, there is only one celestial event that determines the date of Easter. The moment the Sun actually crosses the celestial equator makes no difference.

[Thumper]

That's getting too complicated. WWJD?

[Thumper]

Lots of high clouds this morning so the Moon was a big shimmering fuzzy glow in the sky. The clouds kind of acted like a big diffuser. When I turned onto my road out of my drive, I didn't have to turn the headlights on right away. The moon and the clouds lit everything up in front of me really well.

[geonuc]

The moment the Sun actually crosses the celestial equator makes no difference.

Of course not. The church decides these things, not a bunch of silly astronomers!

[Thumper]

Today's the day. Beautiful almost full Moon high in the sky this morning. It's full at 21:43 EDT this afternoon (check local listings). So if it's not raining tonight, it will be full shortly after is rises. The equinox happens a bit earlier at 17:58 EDT.
Happy Spring.

[Thumper]

No Moon this morning...grey and miserable.

[Thumper]

Bright Moon the last two mornings even though it was supposed to rain all week. It was flirting with Jupiter yesterday so much so I thought there might be an occultation. Then I realized that Jupiter had already passed the Moon. Apparently it just missed. If I was really ambitious, I'd have gotten the scope out and spied Jupiter. But two things, early work in the mornings, and clouds all weekend.

[Rommie]

Bright Moon the last two mornings even though it was supposed to rain all week. It was flirting with Jupiter yesterday so much so I thought there might be an occultation. Then I realized that Jupiter had already passed the Moon. Apparently it just missed. If I was really ambitious, I'd have gotten the scope out and spied Jupiter. But two things, early work in the mornings, and clouds all weekend.

I believe there was one in South America actually! Read about it somewhere.

[Thumper]

I agree, there was probably an occultation somewhere.

[Rommie]

One of those little gifts of life is suddenly spotting a pretty little crescent moon when you're not expecting it. Happened to me yesterday on the first nice enough day for biking as I left the grocery store, hiding in a bunch of cirrus clouds, and man seeing it there just made me so happy for a sec.