Tonight I saw the Summer Solstice Full Moon. This full moon is the lowest moon there can possibly be in the sky. This is because the full moon is opposite the sun, and the sun is at the summer solstice for the Northern hemisphere, so the moon is at the winter solstice. It must be a really bright sight in places like Sydney and Buenos Aires, really high in the sky and big and bright. I saw it tonight as a huge red disk, enlarged by its nearness to the horizon and the Moon Illusion. The red disk reminds me of the words from the Double song "Rangoon Moon", "so low and so red". I thought of calling it a McMoon (see below for why).
The previous day I got a good look at it with my 12x60 binoculars. It is really something to watch this moon, and note where the volcanic plains and cratered regions are, and that some titanic events had to have happened to our companion world billions of years ago, such as the one that produced Copernicus crater. It is just barely clearing the trees at my house, and so I have to binoculate it when it is in a hole or clearing in the trees.
Last Friday was one of the better Skywatches I have attended at the Science Museum of Virginia. About 10 astronomers with telescopes, including Gary Cowardin's Telescope Cinema featuring The Moon, came out to show the stars to about 50 people. The hour was late - it did not really get dark until about 9:30 pm. However, we saw all of the planets in the solar system, including Earth (below us), except the outer ones and except Mars, and in addition the Sun and Moon.
The highlight for me was seeing Mercury and showing Mercury to the public in my 8-inch Celestron. It was rather orangish yellow because of its low altitude, and it showed red and green sides due probably to chromatic aberration. It was probably a full disk, and no detail was visible, but the public was still interested in it anyway. After a while Mercury became weak as it hovered only 2 degrees above McDonald's - McMercury. I then switched to Venus after finding Saturn still in the trees. It was much brighter- easily visible, but again it did not show much in the telescope. as its phase was gibbous or full. Eventually Venus faded over McDonalds, and so I left McVenus and went to Jupiter, which showed three large satellites on one side and one on the other. I also showed the Moon and tried to get M4, but I could not distinguish it from the Moon-Richmond Axis of Light Pollution. I then went back to Saturn; it was dull red and the seeing was terrible, but it still showed the rings and wowed the public. Eventually McSaturn faded also. Since I had a meeting the next morning, I packed up my McCelestron at 10:30 pm and went home, but it was a good night with mostly clear skies and ideal temperatures.
2005/6/21
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