Looking Up

These days, I have made a commitment to get to know the Night Sky a least a little better.  I cannot believe that I have lived all these years and have all this education, but I know precious little about the Sky in which our lovely Earth does her dance and in which I live.  I feel richly blessed that we have a great view of the Sky out here in the country where light pollution is reduced.

In this picture which was taken at 6:49 p.m., February 27, the Moon (which is brightest) is "waxing" which means increasing.  She appears early in the West in the evening Sky.  As she waxes, she will move farther to the East of the Sun.  When she is Full, she will be arising in the East and as the Sun sets in the West, they will be in direct opposition to each other.

The 2 planets that are visible are Venus and Jupiter.  Venus is the brighter of the 2. The straight line which is formed by the 2 planets is the "Ecliptic" which is the plane of the Planets in our Solar System as they move around the Sun.  Looking closely, you can see that they are on parallel with the setting of the Sun.  Only the faintest of light is now visible in this photo.  The Constellations of the Zodiac are directly outside that amazing plane.  On this day, the Moon was in the zodiac constellation Aries. 

I feel like every day is the 1st day of school as I seek to know more about Creation.  I think about how Richard spent many nights as a child on the picnic table staring up at the Sky.  And me?  I was mostly in the house, probably reading, doing homework or chores.  That's weird.  I can't turn it all it around, but I surely can make a start.

These days I am looking up and deeply grateful.  It's like finding a long lost friend who has been waiting for me for some time.