Long John Sliver
I awaited this month's sliver moon with great anticipation. Will we be able to see it? My first official sliver moon in Ohio! For about the first week after our arrival, I despaired of ever getting to stargaze at all: the days were hot and muggy, and vast curdly mist blobs completely obscured our view of the southern sky in the evening. But a wizard thunderstorm roared through late one night, and since then the air has been crystal-clear (by Seattle standards, at least). We've had several excellent views of Venus, a luminescent pearl low in the southwest just after sunset.
After work yesterday we did about a hundred errands-shopping, mostly. The cloudless blue sky promised a fine evening's sliver moon. Each time we left a store I'd scan the sky for Venus and the Moon. (This soon after the new Moon, Venus may well show in the sky first; and having found Venus, I'd know exactly where to look for the Moon.) The sunset progressively deepened, and the western horizon turned a deep brick red, but still no Venus. Finally, emerging from Tops Friendly Market I spied Venus. One problem with where we live in Cleveland is that finding direction is very difficult if there isn't a handy street corner to provide a compass bearing. Since the mall we were shopping in is tilted at a rakish angle from the compass points, I was looking too far south, and the sunset, smeared over 120° of sky, wasn't helping much. I looked to the right and just below Venus, and there, at the threshold of visibility, was the sliver moon! While Kathy drove I kept my eye on the Moon. I last saw it sitting atop silhouetted trees. It had descended well into the dust layer, and so the lighted crescent was colored a rich orange. It was a harvest sliver moon.
The rich orange color, plus the difficulty of sighting sliver moons this time of year, earned this moon a rating of four moons (out of a possible five): ☽☽☽☽. Woohoo-I just realized that I've seen four consecutive sliver moons! Now if we can only see next month's sliver moon, with Mercury near maximum elongation...! That's really pushing it, though. In Seattle we wouldn't have had a chance of seeing anything celestial in November, if you discount the odd low-flying plane.
After work yesterday we did about a hundred errands-shopping, mostly. The cloudless blue sky promised a fine evening's sliver moon. Each time we left a store I'd scan the sky for Venus and the Moon. (This soon after the new Moon, Venus may well show in the sky first; and having found Venus, I'd know exactly where to look for the Moon.) The sunset progressively deepened, and the western horizon turned a deep brick red, but still no Venus. Finally, emerging from Tops Friendly Market I spied Venus. One problem with where we live in Cleveland is that finding direction is very difficult if there isn't a handy street corner to provide a compass bearing. Since the mall we were shopping in is tilted at a rakish angle from the compass points, I was looking too far south, and the sunset, smeared over 120° of sky, wasn't helping much. I looked to the right and just below Venus, and there, at the threshold of visibility, was the sliver moon! While Kathy drove I kept my eye on the Moon. I last saw it sitting atop silhouetted trees. It had descended well into the dust layer, and so the lighted crescent was colored a rich orange. It was a harvest sliver moon.
The rich orange color, plus the difficulty of sighting sliver moons this time of year, earned this moon a rating of four moons (out of a possible five): ☽☽☽☽. Woohoo-I just realized that I've seen four consecutive sliver moons! Now if we can only see next month's sliver moon, with Mercury near maximum elongation...! That's really pushing it, though. In Seattle we wouldn't have had a chance of seeing anything celestial in November, if you discount the odd low-flying plane.