The sleeper awakes:
The full moon hangs low in the sky,
And shines in her face.
The full moon is indeed hanging low in the northern sky at present – it is at its lowest (from the northern hemisphere) part of its irregular orbit. It’s all to do with the angle its orbit makes with our Equator, its declination. It’s not irregular, although from our point of view it oscillates between 28.5 degrees north and south of the Equator. I remembered to look this up before this post went live, and I had to hunt for it. I found it in my Oceanography text books, which surprised me. If you’re in the southern hemisphere it’s at its highest, and if you’re within 28.5 degrees of the equator, it’s furthest south! Have I put you to sleep yet?
This is my own moon photo, taken with an ordinary digital camera through the lens of the telescope my friend lent me when he was away. Such sights to be seen through it once I finally got the hang of using it! Still considering getting my own.
Dammit, I can’t see the cheese! That”s a really good shot Jemima. With a good telescope who knows what shots you might get.
xxx Massive Hugs xxx
Thanks, David. I have Brie and Smoked Northumberland available if you’re hungry 😀
I never would have thought to use a telescope to take a photo of the moon. I tried to take one with my digi-cam the last time we had a full eclipse here. All I could see was a teeny-tiny red-dot on the screen. *photo fail*
You, on the other hand, have a beautiful photo, as well as an exquisite haiku.
Thanks, Suzanne. I have since learned that to take a photo through a telescope you should remove the eyepiece and let the camera focus on the reflector. If I still had a telescope I’d try it! I’ve has some success just taking photos through one part of a pair of binoculars, though. If doing an eclipse, the problem is the strength of the sun (or did you mean a lunar eclipse?)
Check out Momdude’s blog “We see the stars more clearly” or something like that. 🙂 I’ll post a link next time I visit him.
Beautiful, Jemima. Went he moon is like that here, my bedroom is bright! Perfect haiku!
🙂
I was out in the garden at 1.30am, trying to stop something fighting, (Cats, foxes? Not sure) It was like daylight! It was pretty chilly too, just had a dressing gown on, and no time to put shoes on. Feet took a while to warm up! Pity I didn’t take my camera! 😉
Yes, it was bright when I went to bed at 11, and I thought it was high in the sky – I went back online to alter my AtoZ blog post since I wasn’t sure I was right about its position this time. I’m sure I saw or heard something about the low declination full moon at the weekend. :O
I hope your toes have recovered!