This is magnificent. The magic continues. I was astounded by the size of the moon as it came over the eastern horizon tonight.
Supermoon: The Legend Continues. We are having unseasonably warm clear weather here, which isn’t helping our drought, but is providing utterly glorious views of the night sky.
If you’d like to know what you’re looking at here, this handy chart from Wikipedia provides the answers. Tycho and Copernicus are just two of the features that are perfectly visible to the naked eye tonight.
-The harvest moon: the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox.
-A super moon: the moon is at the closest point in its orbit to the earth– only 221,753 miles away.
-A blood moon: a total lunar eclipse is happening.
This is the fourth blood moon since last year, so the last of a tetrad. You might remember my April 2014 post The Blood Moon Tetradexplaining why this series of astronomical events could be so significant.
The Jewish holiday Sukkot (read its history and meaning here— happy 5776!) begins at sundown tonight, which is 6:57 P.M. here in Seattle. Moonrise is a few minutes before. It will be a full eclipse by 7:07 P.M., so the eclipse will be nearing its peak by the time we see the moon. Thankfully it’s been a beautiful warm day here and it’s unlikely clouds will obstruct our view of this event.
Many are intrigued that this rare astronomical event– the first blood supermoon in 33 years– is happening at the end of a shemitah, a seven-year economic cycle, at a time when both faith-based and secular experts are predicting a huge economic crash. Is it a sign? Should we be ready for a massive shift and for God’s hand in increasingly dark world affairs?
Is He trying to get our attention?
Regardless of what you believe– I do believe we should be paying attention to the heavens (Matthew 24, Luke 21) and asking ourselves what we really stand for– enjoy this phenomenal and gorgeous sight. Hopefully people are recovered enough from the Hawks 26-0 win over the Bears today to lift up their eyes and soak it all in.
The Cuillin from Elgol, Loch Scavaig, The Isle of Skye, Scotland by Scottish Landscape Artist Andy Peutherer
Update, 9/27/15: Here are some of the many shots of tonight’s supermoon I captured from the Seattle area. The moon was most difficult to photograph when it was red. I played with various settings, and while I didn’t get the series of jaw-dropping photos I wanted, this still provides a realistic walk through the phases of this lunar eclipse. I’m glad to have gotten to see the whole event when many places couldn’t.
It morphed from glaring angry red alien to jovial intergalactic Cheshire Cat to half-orange sherbet, half-vanilla ice cream to brown-tinged cookie somebody took a bite out of, then it became a brilliant beacon. During the eclipse the sky went from a passionate blue to reddish hues near the moon to a deep darkness and then a navy canopy studded with stars. We were blessed with cloudless weather and even saw a meteor. What an exhilarating experience!
If you don’t have a set of finger lights for festive occasions like this or for when a headlamp or flashlight is just too much, you should. Note the completely full moon at the top. And check out this lantern that looks like the moon on Twisted Sifter. The most amazing home decor item I’ve seen in a while. It brings the wonder of a full moon indoors.
Tonight I was taking pictures of the gorgeous rising moon glowing through an ethereal midnight blue canopy. I was trying out a different camera and was very pleased that I could simply zoom in on the moon and see such detail. What an improvement!
This weekend we have a supermoon, technically lunar perigee when the moon is closest to the earth. There are some wonderful details at Space.com. The Seattle Japanese Garden is hosting its enchanting annual Moon Viewing Festival (Otsukimi) Saturday night.
There is such a gravity to the moon’s presence nowadays, as if it’s signaling an unprecedented shift in the human condition. This reminds me not to trust the created, but the Creator, as He, transcending time and space, is our only unchanging hope.
I found the negative image soothing as well, like the first view of a new planet through a sea of light after a long journey…
