This picture was taken with my Canon Digital Rebel at 6:38am on October 29, 2005, from my second floor bedroom window, without glass or screen in the way.
The moon info for this precise time (courtesy of QuickPhasePro, a moon phase program):
Moon Rise: 4:29am
Moon Set: 5:04pm
Phase Name: Waning Crecent (translation respectively: Getting smaller every day, very near to New Moon)
Percent Full: 13% (translation: 13% of 100% is a small amount of moon showing)
Age: 88% (26 days 0 hours 9 minutes) (translation: getting close to the end of the moon phase, pretty old moon!)
Next New Moon: November 1, 2005 at 8:25pm (translation: the moon will be officially “New” at this time, which happens to still be in the future as of this typing, but close, it’s 7:22pm right now.)
Today, November 1, 2005, the moon rise was at 6:27am, and the moon set at 5:23pm. So the moon has already set for the day, and the New Moon phase comes into play at 8:25pm. Yesterday a smidgen of moon was visible if you could see it at all … today nigh none and tomorrow will be none practically, but “waxing crecent” phase does begin already tomorrow.
I mostly wanted to post this since the pictures are nice, and to offset something bugging me: Weather Channel on TV was doing a forecast of weekend weather before the weekend was fully there, and the person doing it said something about “a clear Moonlit sky for you all in … (where ever that was) for trick or treat time” … and that registered near-rage in me, since I had more recently become fully aware of moon phases thanks to QuickPhasePro. The moon isn’t shining at night right now. It’s been waning and rising and setting during waking hours mostly, rising a bit earlier than most of us, besides that though, 4-something am is dark, in the morning, not at night, and not a time for trick or treating. :rolleyes:
It floored me that a meteorologist wouldn’t be in tune with moon phases and forecasting weather. Not only the 4-am-ish thing, but the moon is setting before it gets dark out in the evening. A sliver of moon doesn’t make a moonlit sky, night or daylight sky, a full moon doesn’t light a daylight sky either. A full moon does light a night sky, no doubt. But this Halloween 2005 a New Moon was close to coming into being … and the rise and set times were anti-night as well. So put that metorologist to rest, to say that about a night forecast made it clear to me that just ’cause something is said doesn’t make it true.
It’s shocking whenever you hear something reported and you know for certain that isn’t true. It was so for me that night last week, and fully so since it was scientific facts I was knowing, knowing that the moon is cyclical and not on that sort of a cycle at all at that time. :rolleyes:
Here’s a crop closer up of the above photo
Here’s a croppier close up of the moon.
All photos are the same one taken at 6:38 am on Oct. 29, 2005 in Georgia.
4 responses to “New Moon coming”
Your pictures are beautiful.
That thing about the meteorologist doesn’t surprise me a bit. TV weather folks are just actors who are paid to read the Teleprompter and point in the right direction. I’m not sure they even live in the real world, or at least they haven’t noticed much more than what my preschoolers have. I remember recently having a conversation with one of them about why the moon was up in the day time that week instead of at night.
I suppose the weather person was just repeating a cliche – “a clear moonlit night” – without even thinking about the moon or its habits at all!
Kelly, The “meteoroligist” that I spoke of is from the Weather Channel, where they are a bit more than the “typical” TV station meteorologist … not that they are absolutely in tune with how it all works, I just have more “faith” in hearing some sort of truth from them, rather from the other channels with weather info. BTW, they all live in the Atlanta area, so that is “the real world” to a degree, or at least to me 😉
I have long been aware of moon at night or day, and also have wondered why some don’t know about moon rise and moon set. I didn’t know as much as I do now, thanks to QuickPhasePro, but I was highly aware of it before, that it rises and sets and the timing is not the same as “a sun day”, and now I just know the preciseness of it, and it’s nice to know. 🙂
Anyhow, it’s intensely interesting to consider the moon and what it is to us on earth. Along with the info I learned recently is the facts that moon rise and and set and full phase and new phase are very intereconnected with animals feeding schedules in the wild. It can be considered overall to aide the fisherman in good fishing, with local weather conditions helping or hindering … so I’m trying to see if it all has a bigger influence on me, like I’ve had an inkling of for many years.
I also read that, I think this is funny, some fishermen types in the ocean believe that the tides are what influence fish feeding time activity, not the moon.
Oh, yeah, not the moon, what influences the tides? LOL
So along this vein I’m considering my hennies in the mix, and am going to see if I can plot out some sort of pattern interconnected with moon rise and set, phase, and season of year, amount of light per day natural and synthetic (electric light) and egg laying, molting.
I also want to use this idea for finding good nature days to go out and see wildlife and photograph them, like in the Smokies (Cades Cove particularly, a lovely area there in the Smoky Mtns National Park.) 🙂
By “real world” I meant the out-of-doors where weather actually happens 😉
That’s interesting about animals feeding. I know that OB nurses swear that the moon phases affect deliveries and I know that the Farmer’s Almanac refers to moon phases for planting and harvesting.
It’s also interesting to note that in Jane Austen’s Emma it’s mentioned once that somebody thought about having a dance or evening party on the spur of the moment only “it was moonlight and everyone was engaged.” Not having streetlights to light the way, late night parties took place during the full moon so the guests could see well to get home afterwards. People just used to be much more in tune with things like this – I guess relying on electricity means that we don’t have to notice things like when the sun rises or sets or when it’s “moonlight.”
I meant for there to be a winkie after that first sentence.
😉