Venus In Red, Minneapolis, Minnesota, shot December 1st, 2008 with a point-and-shoot Canon, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
On December 1st, the Moon aligned in a triad with the elusive beauty of Venus and the expansiveness of Jupiter. Born in the sign of Cancer, the Moon is my ruling planet. I was alerted that morning by my sister-in-law and brother in Pennsylvania. By the time night rolled around, the frigid winter sky offered a clear, firsthand view from my deck in Minnesota.
My sister-in-law also provided a link to an article in the comments on Frost Moon (Faux November) which gives an excellent synopsis of a night spectacle which will not be seen again until 2052. Here are a few more tidbits from Look to Sky for Spectacular Sight Monday by Joe Rao of Space.com:
- the Moon was 15% illuminated in close proximity to the two brightest planets in our sky, Venus and Jupiter
- Jupiter in this photograph is just above Venus and moving in the opposite direction. By the end of December, Jupiter will meet up with the planet Mercury, but will be descending deep into the glow of sunset.
- Earth shines between 45 and 100 times more brightly than the Moon
- the Moon is approximately 251,400 miles from Earth
- Venus is nearly 371 times farther away than the Moon, 93.2 million miles from Earth
- Jupiter is almost 2,150 times farther away than the Moon, 540.3 million miles from Earth
- With the naked eye you could see the full globe of the Moon, with the darkened portion glowing bluish-gray between a sunlit crescent and not much darker sky. The vision is sometimes called “the Old Moon in the Young Moon’s arms.” Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the first to recognize it as what we now call Earthshine.
- Earthshine is sunlight which is reflected off Earth to the moon and then reflected back to Earth
In addition to the December triangulation of the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter, last Friday, December 12th (12th month, 12th day, and the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe) was the Full December Cold Moon. It was the 13th Moon since Winter Solstice 2007 and a Blue Moon by the traditional definition. I had dinner with a friend and the night was again crystal clear for the Cold Moon with glowing rings illuminating nearby clouds.
There is a great article on the Blue Moon by Cayelin K Castell at Celestial Timings called Understanding the Blue Moon (with dates to 2040). In the article, she explains that although popular culture’s definition of Blue Moon is two full moons in a one-month period, Sky and Telescope Magazine states the original meaning of the Blue Moon is when there are four Full Moons in one season, creating 13 Full Moons from December Solstice to December Solstice.
It’s a rare event that only happens every two and half to three years. The New Moon Winter Solstice is this weekend. Bear awaits in the darkness.
-posted on red Ravine, Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
-related to posts: winter haiku trilogy, PRACTICE – Wolf Moon – 10min
Great post and the pictures are great. I wish I had an open area and my camera with me when I saw this. Below are the memories that came from your post.
I remember the triangulation of the moon, Jupiter and Venus. I was driving home from somewhere and I looked up at the sky and saw all three looking back at me. I did not know about the conjunction of these three bodies, a celestial ménage à trois as it were.
I called my son to tell him to look at the sky and assured him I was certain one of the bright “stars” was actually a planet. Once home I did a little internet searching to find that both were planets. That prompted a second call to my son to give him the whole scoop.
I brought this up with a co-worker the next day where he commented that in other parts of the world the planets were aligned over the moon in a celestial SMILEY!
Thanks for the post and validation that we are not alone in our search for celestial entertainment.
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R3, thank you. I read about that Smiley in other parts of the world. And also that Venus was eclipsing the moon in places like Europe as well. I also wonder what ybonesy saw from Vietnam that night or if she was able to see the sky.
It’s so great that you took the time to share your stargazing with your son. Skygazing, for me, is such a grounding thing, even though the planets like Jupiter and Venus are floating out there, literally millions of miles away. Yet we can sometimes see them. It’s hard to get the mind around that.
BTW, I really like your “celestial ménage à trois.” I wish I had added that to the name of the post. Perfect! 8)
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Oh, BTW, I wish I had had your camera with me, too! It’s such a nice one. I someday hope to save up for a new digital SLR with a really close telephoto lense. You know, my whole life I’ve wanted one of those huge nature-watching lenses and, even when I shot film, never bought one. I did have a pretty close one with my film camera. But I’m talking the kind that brings the Moon craters right to your eyeball.
We were all talking about this in another post I seem to recall, but I someday want to go to an observatory and spend the whole night stargazing. I know there are some in the New Mexico desert and in Utah. I wonder where they are on the East Coast? I’ll have to do some research.
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Beautiful captures, QM. They really did turn out clear and lovely.
Also, so good to know the real meaning of “blue moon.” It did seem like an extra moon, didn’t it?, this past weekend when that moon was glowing out there again. Like, Wow, there you are again in your full burning glory!
Regarding Venus and Jupiter, we were in southern NM when we noticed Venus and Jupiter in a line. That was the weekend before the Monday night triangulation with the moon. Jim mentioned as we rolled into our KOA campground that one cool thing about being there was that we’d be able to see the stars way better than we ever can where we live. And sure enough, that evening, driving into Carlsbad for dinner, we noticed the two planets.
We watched them during the next two nights. They were so bright and big. And one definitely seemed red. We thought then that it must be Mars.
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QM,
Can you change the name of the post or at least add a tagline? If so I would be tickled if you renamed it to “celestial ménage à trois”
R3
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QM, thank you so much! The photo was a great treat to wake up to this morning. I had read about the alignment about a week before it happened. I was unaware that not many folks knew about it. Of course J was able to see it one night when he was out & about, but I held off until the night when it was most visible. Unfortunately for me, our trees & the mountain surrounding us blocked any possible view. So glad I was able to let you know about it. D
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QM, you and yb on the samre wave length? Both with blue posts.
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I learned something! Blue Moon. I had always believed and had been told by “experts” that it was two full moons in a month! Now I know better, thanks to you.
I didn’t get to see the triangulation because we were under a thick cloud layer. I did however listen to my son describe it on the cell phone as he drove home from work in California! Kind of a different way to share it with him. When the kids were little, I would load them in the car and take them up high away from city lights to see different astrological events so this was a different take on that sharing!
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I was admiring the photo, and all of a sudden it was filled with “falling stars”!
I love the snow.
You did that on purpose, right? 🙂
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we spent some time watching this beautiful sight, as well. we had clear skies and fairly early in the evening the three were incredibly close.
i am also of the zodiac sign Cancer and ruled by the moon. never fails to be interesting. 🙂 but it does make me look to the skies a little bit more often than perhaps i might otherwise.
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hey, if you change your mouse, (left, right, center) the stars (or snow falling) changes directions…whoohoo! cool!
…and I thought I was losing it!
Love the combo of the sliver of moon on black with the falling white…errr snow/star/dot thingies
It’s the little things, isn’t it, that make ya smile 😉
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QM,
I missed that that evening because of heavy clouds. Its been fun watching Venus and Jupiter do their thing. I’ve made a couple of posts on my blog about it.
MM
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Heather and leslie, the falling snow of WordPress.com is especially noticable on this post. I was staring at the planets, too, when all the snow started to fall. And then today, Heather, I noticed the mouse following thingo. That must be brand new. They’re so fancy over at wp.com. 8)
Hey MM, we’ll have to check out your blog posts about the alignment. I should have known. (BTW, guess who is town? Dean. He and Jim and Andrew had lunch today and may go for a mountainbike ride this weekend.)
Bo, thanks for pointing that out! It probably wouldn’t have dawned on me.
Carolee and Corina, thanks for stopping in and sharing your experiences on star gazing. Corina, what a cool way for a parent to infuse a kid with love of the skies. Jim always orients us to the stars and planets. Hey, he’s a Sagitarrius (that looks like it’s spelled wrong) but on the cusp, and sometimes I think he’s got a lot of Capicorn traits, although I honestly don’t know what those are. Just that I know he doesn’t have some of the Sag traits. Is Capricorn similar at all to Cancer? Anyone know?
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Hey Heather,
It is the little things, isn’t it? 🙂
I discovered the mouse directional thing, and sat here for many …too many… minutes making the snow go in various directions. I need a hobby…
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Oh, now this weird—today the snow is moving in the *opposite* direction of the mouse. And, have you noticed, can’t make the snow fall upwards?!
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Strike that last comment. Now it’s back to tracking the mouse. (leslie, I can get stuck in this snow thing all day, too.) 8)
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Ah, I’m just getting a chance to check in to all the comments. I never had a chance to log into the Internet yesterday. Our cat Chaco is sick and we had to take him to the vet after work last night. Tests are being run and we’re not sure what it is yet, but he is eating his “medicine” food and drinking some water. So we are hopeful.
R3, I wanted to come back to your comment (December 17th, 10:15) about adding the “celestial ménage à trois.” I’ll add it as a tag for sure. It’s just too good to pass up. I’ll see how it works graphically in the title. I always have to check things out visually first. 8)
diddy, thanks again.
Bo, yeah, yb and I were on the same “blue” wavelength this week. Blue, blue, blues, and blue. 8)
mimbresman, yes, I saw Venus pop out very brightly most of the last few weeks after this post. She is quite showy this year.
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Corina, wonderful story about sharing the event with your son in California. It reminds me of R3’s comment about sharing with his son, too, by cell phone. It’s amazing to think most of us didn’t have any kind of portable phone 20 years ago. Mostly business people and they were huge. Sharing is so in the moment now and can be a great thing in cases like this!
Carolee, I find the same thing with the Cancer sign and the Moon. I always want to know what she’s doing up there. I feel kind of lucky to have a “ruling planet” that is so close to Earth. It pulls at me just as it pulls the tides – ebb and flow.
leslie and heather, I noticed when I was working on this post how lovely the snow looked against the back background of the skies in the photograph. It really worked out well, and looks a lot like snow!
BTW, I didn’t notice the directional thing with the mouse until this week. I wonder if it’s something they added after the original snow. I was playing with it, too. Really fun!
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ybonesy, thanks for responding to our readers in my absence yesterday. Trying day! I appreciate it. BTW, Capricorn and Sag traits are nothing like Cancer (in general). But, you know, you really have to have your whole chart done to get a true sense of what planets and traits rule your different astrological houses.
I am on the cusp of Cancer and Leo but have almost no Leo in my entire chart. However, I do have a lot of Cancer and Taurus — Taurus Moon, Taurus Rising Sign. And that really affects the Cancer. I think Liz (she is Aquarius) has her Venus in Cancer or maybe it’s a Cancer Moon, and that really makes her more compatible with me than many other Aquarius signs I’ve known. It’s so amazing how that works. Have you and Jim ever had your charts done? Doing them together, too, a compatibility chart can be really interesting. 8)
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QM, I’ll be thinking about Chaco tonight. Get well Chaco. I know all too well how stressful the illness of a beloved pet can be. Our pets are like family to us & I will say a prayer for Chaco tonight. D
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R3, I just remembered I had wanted to come back and add that tag – celestial ménage à trois. Done! I hope I have a chance to use it in an actual post title some day. I’m keeping my eyes open for the right fit. 8) The skies have been pretty gray here the last week. Then last night and this morning, amazing winds. Haven’t seen the moon in a bit. Saturday, December 27th was the official New Moon. New beginnings.
diddy, pets sure are like family. They add so much richness and companionship to our lives. Thanks for all your prayers. The Holidays have been like a whirlwind blur since Chaco got sick around December 18th. But I can’t tell you how much better he’s doing. He’ll be going back to the vet tomorrow after work. He’s gained weight and is purring and much more chipper. We’ll know more about long-term care after tomorrow. More as I know it.
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I like canon-photo very much
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Thanks for stopping by. I noticed the January Wolf Moon was stunning last weekend at the waxing phase. So clear in the sky, day and night. And this Friday, she is Full. 8)
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http://news.aol.com/article/astronmers-find-new-runaway-stars/297717
QM, I wasn’t sure if you had seen this or not. D
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That’s pretty cool, diddy – 4 new stars to brighten the sky. Thanks for the link. Have you seen the moon this week? At least here, it’s amazingly clear and bright. It was supercold last night and those tend to be the clearest sky nights for us.
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QM, no haven’t seen the moon. It’s been overcast here for days. We just had an ice storm, well, not exactly what they were calling for, but the trees are still covered with ice. Today the sun was out for about 5 minutes. Now, back to the same overcast skies & very windy. I’ve put off going for groceries for 3 days now! I’m not a cold weather person like you! D
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Oh, I always forget…not everyone likes winter. 8) I’m not fond of ice storms though because it’s too dangerous to drive. It was up in the 20’s a few days ago, then plummeted to -3 this morning. I have to say, it threw my body temps off and I was freezing last night, just couldn’t get warm. We went to dinner with a friend and the wind was howling away but the moon was so clear, you could almost touch it.
We’ve had a lot of clear, sunny days of recent and part of that is simply related to how cold it is when those frigid air masses move down from Canada. January is our coldest month here. After that, smooth sailing. 8)
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http://news.aol.com/article/2009s-biggest-brightest-full-moon-rises/300886
QM, please get a shot of the moon tonight! D
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diddy, there was a break in the clouds and I did see the Full Moon rise on Friday night in all her magnificent splendor. It truly was the brightest moon I’d ever seen! And I see in my comments, I had noted that the moon had been clear and luminous all month. I had not read the info in your link until now though to understand why. No wonder it was so bright!
Below is a blurb from your link that explains the scientific part of things:
From a moonwatcher’s point of view, it was simply stunning, even with the naked eye. I chose not to photograph it this time but to simply enjoy the sight. Later in the evening, it was cloudy and the same moon shone high in the sky through a white haze. Thanks for the link!
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No problem. I didn’t get to see it due to our overcast skies. But, I thought the link I sent would interest you. I am fascinated with the stars, moon, & planets. I look for these kind of articles all the time.
I was curious if you had looked at all of the photos on the 4 stars link I sent on Jan. 7. If not, please do. And pardon this pun, they are stunning & out of this world! D
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