A perigee moon occurs when the moon is in its' closest orbit to the earth - and last night it was 356 000 kms (221 208 miles) away. In addition, it was also a full moon.
It was an exquisite evening, with crystal clear skies and a temperature of 32oC (89.6oF) at 8.25 pm GMT - there was just a hint of a draft wafting through the trees - almost enough to cool down and dry the perspiration which drenched our bodies - it had been a l-o-n-g hot day...
I couldn't resist trying to capture the perigee on my camera.
I was also lucky enough to capture some stars in the night sky, too - before my camera battery ran out...
But, when I viewed the photo's on my desktop I discovered that I had also captured a whole bunch of orbs.
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| My photo taken at 8.25 pm (GMT) |
Magic!
Have you ever taken a photo of an orb? We have had heated debates in our family regarding orbs, until I proved to my husband that a photo, taken over and over, on the same spot - click, click, click - did not always result in capturing orbs, and when they did, the orbs were in different places and one can clearly see the different colours of each orb and the shapes within the centre of the orbs.
I was frustrated because I wanted to take other photo's of the perigee, so my obliging RSon, whipped out his camera - a new, stronger, more expensive model. The results speak for themselves.
Am I being fanciful - does the man in the moon look particularly sad? I could swear he has tears running down his face.
Can we blame him, if one looks at events worldwide - global warming, and natural and man-made disasters - particularly those that occurred in the far east on Friday 11th March, and, most recently, the "war" which has been declared in the middle east.
If the universe is mourning the state of earth - what are we doing?
Perhaps I am being influenced by the approaching autumn and winter, whilst my northern hemisphere friends are eagerly anticipating spring and summer, and the rebirth of their gardens.
The fact remains though, if we continue mistreating this planet through ignorance (in todays' educated world that is not an excuse), for our own selfish reasons or for financial "reward", we will all pay the price for that disrespect.
When one is privileged to live in the country and above us the exquisite night sky is clear, bright and humbling, we surely appreciate that it is not just this planet we need to be aware of, but also our planets' position, and role, in our universe.
Sharing is caring - let us all make this planet a better place - for all its' creatures - great and small. We have to consider each action that we take, its' impact on this planet and the consequences we deserve for that action. How else can we make a positive difference?


