OK, so I can’t moonwalk like Michael but I was front row center for the bravura performance that the moon put on last night. Here in the heartland of Iowa it was a perfectly still, cloudless night so the conditions were perfect albeit a little on the chilly side. The celestial show was well worth waiting for and to think I almost missed it. If it hadn’t been for a dear friend in Wyoming I wouldn’t have even known it was going to occur.
We live in a world today that seems so structured; the Sun rises, goes across the sky and then sets. The Moon goes through its phases from new to full and back again. It all seems like clockwork, and then, something unusual happens that seems to throw the orderly timing of the cosmos into chaos. On a night when the moon rises full and beautiful, it starts to change, at first it is so subtle few notice it. But then ever so slowly the moon begins to dim and alarmingly disappears.
One can only imagine how frightening the sight of a lunar eclipse must have been for our ancestors. Far more than us, they were in tune with the rhythms of the cosmos, the motions of the Sun, Moon and planets were the motions these people lived by. They told short time by the daily passing of the Sun and used the moon phases for longer periods of time. The passing of the seasons were marked by the stars. The skies were orderly and dependable except for when an eclipse happened. During that time chaos reigned and our ancestors prayed and begged for the Moon to be returned to the sky.
Eclipses have influenced history and, even today there are those who attach ancient superstitions to an eclipse. But they are in the minority for we now know what causes lunar eclipses. And although it may seem a magic show of shadow and light and a disappearing act by the Moon, we know how the “magic” works. Even so, we can still appreciate the beauty.
I was struck by how dark the sky was during the period of “totality” allowing me to see so many more stars than would normally be visible against the backlight of a full moon. Miss Wyoming asked me why the Moon appears to be red so I had to do a little research for her. It seems that some of the sunlight passes through the Earth’s atmosphere and is bent around behind the Earth and beamed towards the moon. The shorter wavelengths of light are scattered and aren’t seen so only the longer orange and red wavelengths reach the moon. It is that combination of longer wavelengths that usually supply just enough light to cast a coppery red hue on the Moon. 
Last night the moon appeared to me as kind of a burnt orange.
There are times however, such as when there have been volcanic eruptions on the Earth, that the light is so scattered by the volcanic ash that almost no light reaches the moon and it may be so dark as to be not seen at all. Those were the events that must have really freaked out our ancestors.
At any rate, I guess what I want to say now that the cosmic show is over and won’t do an encore until 2010, is that our world of today has gone and got itself in a great big hurry. Most of us spend so much time on the fast-track of life that the really important things that make life special kind of pass us by. I know I missed alot of years of my boys growth and development cause I was so busy chasing the Jones’s. And for what? I would give anything to be able to have a “do-over” with my boys. I love how Rod Stewart said it in one of his songs - “I wish… that…. I knew what I know now….. when I was younger!”
I did call my sons last night and told them to watch the eclipse and for them to know that I loved them and would be watching also. Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Vegas so we made a date for 2010.
We can learn much about our world if we just read a bit about eclipses. They are steeped in history, superstitions, astronomy and the sciences. I loved learning that the Boston Red Sox won their first title in 86 years during an eclipse. I also discovered the little know fact that Christopher Columbus and his men were captured by wild natives on his 4th trip to the Carribean. He was able to predict the next lunar eclipse and scared the superstitious natives into believing he had the power to make the moon disappear permanently if they weren’t released. Tell me that knowledge isn’t power!!
Obviously, last nights cosmic event was pretty grand but there are other “events” that occur daily on a much smaller scale but are, in no way, any less powerful in the effect they can have on our lives if we just stop, look and listen for them. Stop and smell the roses. You deserve to pay yourselves back for all the hard work you have done and are doing. Keep coming back here for more musings. See you in 2010!
