Always the optimist, I look forward to next year with certainty that it will be exceptional. If the good wishes of my friends are predictive-it should be a happy and healthy year for my family. Not wanting to be overly superstitious but news from NASA further lowered my anxiety. For those of us who stargaze, January is unique as it promises a quadruple extravaganza. The moon is near its closest point this month and therefore appears 14% larger than normal and 30% brighter. Those moons are dubbed “Super Moons”. Not only will it be big, it happens in Idaho on the first day of the new year – that has to be a good omen. This moon is called the Wolf Moon and follows a December Super Moon. Later this month we will see the trifecta of Super Moons. The second moon in a month is called a blue moon and this month it will be a Super Blue Moon. As if all this celestial beauty is not enough, a total lunar eclipse occurs the same night. In the West we should be able to see the full eclipse.
I have been saying for years “that” happens once in a blue moon. Turns out “that” is about every 2.7 years which means I need to find something that happens less often as my go to analogy. If you are favored with clear skies, the best time to watch is just before it rises or sets as you will experience the “moon illusion” which makes the moon and other heavenly bodies appear larger against the horizon. This phenomenon is still being debated, but likely is an optical illusion. It is no illusion, somehow we are about to watch the apple drop in New York and sing Auld Lang Syne.
Hank is helping me write this message and he wants you to visualize a Ninjago hero doing a spin so fast that he looks like a tornado. That is a fine way to end 2017 and wish you and yours good health in the New Year.
Mike