Spur-of-the-moment Sidewalk Astronomy ...
It's a lovely clear night, and we're not busy, so we're going to be at
Myrtle and Lime in Monrovia tonight from about 6:00 'til 9:00 p.m.
The Moon was exactly full at 12:07 p.m. this afternoon, so we'll be
showing it with almost no shadows and no terminator anywhere across
the disk. It's a very different view of the Moon from our favorie at
first-quarter.
This time of the lunar cycle is when you see the highly reflective glass
bead features of the Moon, made in the heat of so many large meteor
impacts, and often scattered across the lunar surface in the form of
powdery "rays" extending from larger craters like Tycho, Copernicus,
and Kepler.
These reflective glass beads are the same material used to make
reflective paint and road signs. They're the reason that the full Moon
is significantly brighter than just twice the light we receive from a
half Moon.
Tonight in Monrovia, 6-9 p.m.
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones <*>
Monrovia, CA
mojo(a)whiteoaks.com
http://www.whiteoaks.com