The Decompression of a Boomer

I saw it just after dark, yesterday evening. The wolf moon. It was one of the few clear nights we’ve had in January. I was driving in my car, headed east, just a few blocks from our house and there it was, hanging above the rooftops right in front of me, giant and luminous — the largest, brightest moon I have ever seen!! I didn’t think to try and capture a photo of it with my i-phone. But I bet I could have, it was so bright. I was headed to a funeral home for a “Celebration of Life” preceding the funeral today of a special friend.

I thought of that moon when I woke up this morning. I knew it was special. I looked on the internet and discovered that it is the Wolf moon, the name given to the first full moon of the year, by the American Indians, which have named all the full moons. Check out the Wolf moon on this link. This year the Wolf moon is 30% brighter and 14 per cent larger than any other full moon for the rest of this year. That is because the moon will be at its perigee—the nearest it gets to our planet during its egg-shaped orbit—for 2010 – at 4:04 a.m. ET, Saturday, at the same time that it is full. Check out this link from National Geographic News. What made this Wolf moon experience extra special is the appearance of Mars at opposition last night—directly opposite to the sun in the sky—so that as the sun set in the southwest, Mars rose in the northeast to the left of the moon.

I’m checking out the waning Wolf moon again tonight. And see if I can find Mars. And thinking about the serendipity of my dear friend’s death. Maybe she didn’t want me to miss experiencing the Wolf moon at its perigree enhanced by the glow of Mars in its opposition to the sun, viewed at its best last night, an hour after sunset. Because if she hadn’t died, then I likely wouldn’t have seen it. And if I am going to continue ‘living’ I should pay more attention to the waxing and waning of the moon. And just gaze more a the sky. Next month I plan to check out the Snow Moon, in its full glory, on February 28. I wonder if the skies will be as clear as they were last night on this Wolf Moon weekend.

Tags: Wolf moon

This entry was posted on January 30, 2010 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Death. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.