Sunday, March 20, 2011

Supermoonstruck


moon·struck
(mo̵̅o̅n′struk′)
adjective affected mentally in some way, supposedly by the influence of the moon; specif.,
  1. crazed; lunatic; insane
  2. romantically dreamy
  3. dazed or distracted
Definition from Dictionary.com

We've been out moon-chasing. I think it affected both us and the cameras. Our photos of the night's "supermoon" are a little ... unusual.

We went, first, across the street to the vacant lot, where we would have a more or less clear view as the moon rose. However, we had not realized how many lights even this empty area could offer for competition; street lights on three sides of the lot, house lights behind and to the side, headlights of cars on the street behind us. There was a bit of fog, which diffused all the lights, enlarging them and blurring the view.

We moved back home to the third floor balcony. By then, the moon was above the fence and the gap in our evergreens, and we could see the man in the moon clearly. Our cameras couldn't; the moon was too bright.

But, wait! I did get a man in the moon!

Not the same guy that usually shows up. Maybe he's subbing.

(In reality, the markings are the tips of an evergreen branch in the foreground. But then, the old MitM is supposedly just shadows of rocks and valleys on the moon face. For tonight, I'm going to believe in the subbing hypothesis. Tomorrow is soon enough for sanity.)

That was a photo from my little Sony. All my moon shots had a green and sometimes yellowish halo. Laurie's Nikon registered a red/pink halo:

Close and distant evergreens, and a haloed moon.

And this one, with a tree bisecting the moon, reminds me mostly of a bacterium, in the process of dividing. Strep, maybe. I like the way the moon's light wraps itself around the trunk, as if it were growing there.

We can't really figure out how Laurie got this one.

As it came from the camera, only resized.

I think the wide stripe is the moon. But down at the bottom are two wheels and a bumper of a car on the road. So something must have distracted Laurie while the camera was still working on the photo. (Those little demons in the box are slow, sometimes.) So I think he swooped around, picking up the street lights, something that blinked (turn signal?) and traffic. And all that orange background lighting.

And there's a heart for Clytie, too!

Another Skywatch post.

5 comments:

  1. I love it that you took pictures of that gorgeous supermoon! Especially the subbing man in the moon. I've never been able to see the man in the moon, but I do see a rabbit sometimes!

    I never would have believed there was a heart-in-the-moon ... (smile) but now I know all things are possible!!!

    I got woke up at 3:30 this am by my cats in the window growling and the dog in "her" chair whining and growling. I went outside to check it out and there was a coyote yipping at the end of the driveway by the light of a huge mysterious moon. I didn't want him getting my chickens so I yelled "POW" as loud as I could. Off he went, and everything calmed down. That was my only view of the moon. Now I wish I had stayed out longer ... except for that durn coyote!

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  2. Now that would have been a great photo! Coyote against a full moon.

    But at 2:30 in the morning, all you want is to go back to bed.

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  3. sounds like you will need naps today from all your moon chasing. That last photo is really beautiful.

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  4. Looks wonderful! I live right in the middle of a big city, so there's always street lights around. I remember when I was trying to get to sleep one time but it was too bright, even in the middle of the night. I looked out the window and realised it was the moon. That was the first time I saw how bright it could be. I was very impressed!

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  5. Thanks, Texwisgirl!

    Comment1, I remember reading by the light of the moon up north, away from "civilization". Even though there's so much more light in urban areas, our eyes are semi-shuttered to cope, and we see less.

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