Moon Gazing

Barbara called me this afternoon on her way from work to the theater.  She told me that the moon was full and huge on the horizon.  I thanked her for the info, she knows how I love to star gaze, and went back to my current project of organizing files in the office.

Later tonight I stepped outside to check it out.  It is that time of year where I remember what I like about living in Georgia.  The days are moderate and the nights are cool, but not cold.  Cool enough to keep the bugs away, at least.  In Atlanta that is a blessing.  Ah, fall.

I looked up.  There it was, glowing white just above the trees.  It certainly did appear huge in the cloudless autumn sky.  My, was it bright!  The ambient light was casting crisp shadows on the front porch and yard.  The view all around was just lovely and haunting, like a landscape in a black and white film.

I went back inside after a few minutes to get my telescope to take a closer look.  After a few brief moments of remembering how to use the thing, I managed to get the moon into focus.  I had to remove my glasses to get my eye right up on the eyepiece for the best view.  The moon filled the full circle of my vision.  I noticed that it was just past being full as one edge was slightly rough, the shadow beginning its slow journey across the surface.  Every ripple, every crater was beautifully detailed in white and myriad shades of grey before my eager eye.  I could even make out the spread pattern of each impact, stretching out from the craters, indicating from which direction each meteor must have hit.  I don't recall ever seeing it so very clearly.

As I watched a small shadow passed over the moon.  A satellite!  During the next several minutes I saw five others cross the sky between me and the moon.  Some of them appeared to be at different distances from us and one was quite a bit larger.  I could even make out details of it's shape in it's dark silhouette.

And so I stared until my eyesight began to blur and I could feel the creatures of the night  getting closer and louder, forcing me back to the safety of the indoors.

~Googie