Look to the Heavens

We’re only a couple of weeks into the New Year and a new decade, and so much bad has happened and continues to happen in the world. It’s distressing, disappointing, and so sad.

Just to get away from it for a little while, I want to turn our eyes skyward to enjoy and marvel over the beauty that’s right overhead at night. Despite everything, our Earth, our address in the Milky Way Galaxy, gives us a great vantage point to see wondrous things.

Let’s start with our natural satellite, the Moon. She and Earth are constant companions in the journey around our star. She watches over us and largely controls the tides of Earth’s many oceans. When she’s shining, nothing compares to being able to read a book by her light.

Tonight is the first full moon of 2020. It’s called the Wolf Moon, also known as the Moon After Yule. Every full moon has its own legend that harkens back to earlier times, perhaps more innocent times. In October, we’ll have a blue moon—a second full moon. How appropriate that it’ll be shining on Halloween. This is the list of 2020 full moons from Farmers’ Almanac.

Expect two super Moons this year when her orbit around Earth brings her closer than usual. You can read about all things lunar here at Farmers’ Almanac.

Look for meteor showers too—free light shows in the night sky. Here’s a calendar for that from Time and Date.com.

On a clear, starry night, gaze upward. Enjoy those sparkling, distant suns. How long ago did the light we see leave them? Are they the stars of their own solar systems like ours? Who or what is out there in that vastness?

Happy Writing!