Looking Up: Enjoy the friendly summer moon

Be sure to see the full moon this Monday, July 26, or on any clear night for a couple days before and after, while the moon is still “big and round.”

There’s something poetic and romantic about the July full moon. It is especially low in the sky this time of year, when it reaches its highest around 1 a.m. (assuming you are on moonlight saving time). At this time of year, the full moon is just opposite in the sky from the high summer sun, which blazes far up in the sky at noon.

If you can, get away from streetlights and other manmade illumination. There’s nothing like a country walk on a moonlit pathway or little-traveled road. Listen for the crickets or peep toads as they join in their nocturnal symphony. You may even hear an owl or other night critter.

A lot of nature depends on the night and is wide awake when the stars are out. You may even have in your garden a moon flower, which opens only at night and its cream color wonderfully reflects Luna’s light.

Examine the face of the moon; the familiar “Man in the Moon” follows you through life like a faithful friend. Other cultures have imagined a witch carrying sticks or an old man with a lantern (both English), a woman by a tree (New Zealand), a cook standing over a fire (Polynesia) or a rabbit (China, Aztecs and others).

There is substantial folklore on the meaning of the Man in the Moon. European traditions indicate he was a man banished to the moon for some crime. The Romans imagined a sheep thief; the Germans, a man who stole from a neighbor’s hedgerow to repair his own. Christian lore saw him as a Sabbath breaker banished to the moon, or as Cain, who murdered his brother Able.

Very unscientific, but personally I never imagined him to be a criminal sort; the Man in the Moon can be imagined as a friendly gaze.

If one thought of him as lonely, the phrase Man in the Moon took on a whole new meaning in the Apollo era, when from 1969 through 1972, 12 men from Earth walked there. In all, including astronauts who stayed in orbit, 27 men have visited the moon’s vicinity and can claim that title of Man in the Moon.

Perhaps one day astronauts again will visit the Earth’s only natural satellite, and this time include women as well.

The dark areas marking the “face” are called “seas” ("maria" in Latin) but are actually hardened lava plains.

Meanwhile, you can get quite close. With a pair of 7x binoculars, you can see the moon seven times closer. Instead of the average of 238,000 miles away, you can see the moon as if it were only 34,000 miles. A 30x telescope will bring you to 7,933 miles. With just binoculars, if held very steadily, will show you the larger craters; a small telescope will show thousands of craters and mountains.

FOR THE RECORD: Last week’s column dealt with the difference between astronomy and astrology. Word was received that two of the points raised perpetuate common misconceptions about how the astrology system works. One correction is that the system is based on 12 30-degree divisions of the 360-degree apparent path of the sun, from which are based their 12 signs. This is regardless of the present constellation boundaries or how the sky has shifted over time. Also, their system is said to not claim any direct causation from the planets but only a “symbolic correspondence.”

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Keep looking up!