skywatch
Moon phase of the week:
1/25 -- The Moon enters her First Quarter phase at 6:02 PM EST, at five degrees of Taurus. In occultism, this phase is generally considered the most propitious time of the lunar cycle for "magickal" activities. This is mainly because the First Quarter is that part of the waxing Moon (manifestation) that follows on the "unlucky" New phase during which the dark portion of the Moon is dimly illumined by earthlight. This phenomenon is called seeing "the old Moon in the arms of the New" and is considered very unpropitious in folklore, presumably because the Moon is in some sense "conflicted" and unnatural.
Skywatching events of the week:
All week -- As described in last week's SkyWatch, the recently discovered Comet McNaught may now be visible to the unaided eye very low in the Eastern sky just before dawn and low in the West just after sunset, although it remains difficult to spot, and you need a completely unobstructed view of the horizon. Rather amazingly, the Moon this week will be passing through a totally blank area of the sky, in terms of there being no bright stars or planets in or near her path, so simply enjoy the sight of her in all her solitary splendor!
Space news of the week:
Speaking of "the dark of the Moon," so-called "dark energy" and "dark matter" have become the prime focus of cosmological research over the past decade, these concepts being used to account for both the expansion of the universe, which has seemed to be driven by a kind of anti-gravitational force ("dark energy"), as well as the clumping together of stars into galaxies and galaxies into clusters in a way suggesting that the universe contains far more mass than is visible ("dark matter"). Now, recent research seems to indicate that "dark energy," anyway, is not necessary to explain the universe's expansion, which may after all be due to the old, familiar (to cosmologists, anyway) "vacuum energy" of quantum mechanics. If verified, this discovery may actually represent a major contribution to our understanding of the living Cosmos.
Go out! Look up!
copyright 2007, dorothy oja, all rights reserved
1/25 -- The Moon enters her First Quarter phase at 6:02 PM EST, at five degrees of Taurus. In occultism, this phase is generally considered the most propitious time of the lunar cycle for "magickal" activities. This is mainly because the First Quarter is that part of the waxing Moon (manifestation) that follows on the "unlucky" New phase during which the dark portion of the Moon is dimly illumined by earthlight. This phenomenon is called seeing "the old Moon in the arms of the New" and is considered very unpropitious in folklore, presumably because the Moon is in some sense "conflicted" and unnatural.
Skywatching events of the week:
All week -- As described in last week's SkyWatch, the recently discovered Comet McNaught may now be visible to the unaided eye very low in the Eastern sky just before dawn and low in the West just after sunset, although it remains difficult to spot, and you need a completely unobstructed view of the horizon. Rather amazingly, the Moon this week will be passing through a totally blank area of the sky, in terms of there being no bright stars or planets in or near her path, so simply enjoy the sight of her in all her solitary splendor!
Space news of the week:
Speaking of "the dark of the Moon," so-called "dark energy" and "dark matter" have become the prime focus of cosmological research over the past decade, these concepts being used to account for both the expansion of the universe, which has seemed to be driven by a kind of anti-gravitational force ("dark energy"), as well as the clumping together of stars into galaxies and galaxies into clusters in a way suggesting that the universe contains far more mass than is visible ("dark matter"). Now, recent research seems to indicate that "dark energy," anyway, is not necessary to explain the universe's expansion, which may after all be due to the old, familiar (to cosmologists, anyway) "vacuum energy" of quantum mechanics. If verified, this discovery may actually represent a major contribution to our understanding of the living Cosmos.
Go out! Look up!
copyright 2007, dorothy oja, all rights reserved