Lunar Extreme

On March 19, 2011, the moon will swing around Earth more closely than it has in the past 18 years, lighting up the night sky from just 221,567 miles (356,577 kilometers) away. On top of that, it will be full.

Tracking the Elusive Lovecraft: 3 June 1909

We have a note, courtesy of David Keller and Mr. Joshi from Lovecraft's astronomical notebook. We have contemporary confirmations, as well. Lovecraft was moon-gazing.

June 3 - 1909. Moon's Eclipse. Clouds interfered but several glimpses were obtained. Total 7.58. {apparently 7.58 means that the total eclipse was to occur at 7: 58 PM - see Greeley et. al. below} Notebook of HPL.

(Click on images below to expand to larger size)





The Recent Lunar Eclipse, June 3.— Owing to the persistent clouds, the total eclipse of the moon which took place on June 3-4 was unobservable in London, but that it was well observed in other localities is shown by the reports now published.

MM. Borrelly and Coggia made observations at Marseilles, the results of which are published in No. 23 (June 7) of the Comptes rendus.

The former noted the exceptional intensity of the penumbra at the beginning of the eclipse, and a seamy appearance of the umbra which gave the front line of the shadow a sinuous appearance. In the telescope the eclipsed moon appeared rose-coloured, but to the naked eye it was red; many of the lunar circles were visible despite the shadow.

M. Coggia observed that on the approach of the shadow's edge, at 12h. 45m. (Marseilles M.T.), Plato took on a red tint, which became redder until, at 12h. 50m., it appeared like glowing charcoal.

Mr. J. H. Elgie writes that, according to his observations, at Leeds, the eclipse was a " light " one; although at its first encroachment the shadow was dead black, when the disc was fully eclipsed many features could be perceived by the naked eye. The shadow was first seen, without a telescope, at about 11.45 PM. Mr. Elgie also directs attention to a curious glow in the northern heavens throughout the night, almost suggestive of an auroral display.

From:
Nature, 24 June 1909, Vol. 80, No. 2069, pp. 502-503



World Almanac 1909



Tribune Almanac, Horace Greeley, et. al, 1909

Biggest and Brightest Full Moon of 2010 Tonight

Natheless at the next full moon I boarded the White Ship, and with the reluctant bearded man left the happy harbour for untravelled seas... The White Ship, HP Lovecraft
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Tonight it will be about 14 percent wider and 30 percent brighter!
Howl if you see it!




http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30637/30637-8.txt
Writings in the United Amateur, 1915-1922

The Moon and Venus: Eerie Near Occulation

From Coast to Coast AM (My favorite radio show):

Moisture in the air gave an eerie glow to the Moon and Venus as they appeared very close together after sunset in the western sky on the night of February 27, 2009. I took this photo in Phoenix, Arizona.

--Dave Bissegger
(http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page2967.html?theme=light)

December 2008 : Convergence of Perigee and Full Moon

Lovecraft was NOT a fan of hillbiilies and such, but he might smile askance at the Patsy Cline (1963) lyrics had he have heard them twang out: Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining. Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue ...

Well, it wasn't a BLUE moon yesterday, but it was a WEIRD full moon. (A blue moon has several meanings, but of recent vintage - though spurious - it means two full moons in one month.) I'll rely on National Geographic to fill in the details. Lovecraft WOULD have enojoyed seeing Perigee and Full Moon convergence. If any weird things happened to YOU under the "Long Nights" moon let us know.

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Although a full moon happens every month, the one that rises tomorrow will appear about 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than the other full moons seen so far this year. That's because our cosmic neighbor will be much closer than usual. The moon will be at its closest perigee — the nearest it gets to Earth during its egg-shaped orbit around our planet.

At its farthest from Earth, the moon is said to be at apogee.

Perigee and apogee each happen generally once a month, but the moon's wobbly orbit means that its exact distance at each of those events varies over the year.

The moon's phase can also be different during each apogee and perigee.

"Typically we don't have the full moon phase and perigee coinciding at the same time, so that makes this event particularly special," said Ed Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California.

What's more, tomorrow's event will be the closest lunar perigee since 1993, at 221,560 miles (356,566 kilometers) from Earth.

The moon's farthest apogee for the year will occur a couple weeks later on December 26, when the natural satellite will be 252,650 miles (406,601 kilometers) from Earth.

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11 year old Lovecraft would have experiencd a nice Full Moon on 1901 Dec 25 12:15 (Wed) - other full moon events: on 1920 Dec 25 12:39 (Sat); he would have had it on Christmas Eve on 1912 Dec 24 04:30 (Tue ) and 1931 Dec 24 23:24 (Thu)

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Perigee and Paogee calculator -

http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html

Pause to Celebrate Lovecraft the Astronomer (1 December 2008)

Monday evening, Dec. 1 a slender crescent moon ( just 15-percent illuminated) will appear in very close proximity to the two brightest planets in our sky, Venus and Jupiter.

If there are pictures on the 'net, I'll post later this week.

Lovecraft's Eclipses

For a list of all lunar eclipses (click here).

In honor of HPL's love of all things lunar and lunatick ... here are last night's eclipse images.

HPL often quoted the KJV, so here is Joel 2:30,31 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke ... and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day ...

Very American Apocalyptic. :) One thinks of the coming of Nyarlathotep?

Lunar Eclipse of 3 March 2007

Lovecraft saw and observed many eclipses. This one will be over Providence, again. The East Coast will enjoy the longest view, but, even there, the Moon will rise already eclipsed since the Moon rises at about 5:45 P.M. EST.

On 2 January 1917 in the Providence Evening News, Howard wrote, "At the time of the full moon on January 7-8 there will be a total lunar eclipse; visible at Providence {between 11:36 PM (enters penumbra) to 5:33 AM (leaves penumbra)}. The long period of totality comprising nearly an hour and a half, will afford an interesting specatacle ... In the eclipse of 1884 the moon totally disappeared from the sight of the naked eye; a phenomenon of great rarity... The lunar eclipse is, of course, an eclipse of the sun by the Earth as seen by an observor on the moon."

Halloween 1922

In The Hound we read, "On October 29 {Sunday, C.P.} we found in the soft earth un derneath the library window a series of footprints uttery impossible to describe."

Lovecraft wrote the most incredible horror stories, but let's place his intensity in the sitz im leben {setting in life} of Halloween, October 31, 1922. Sunday would have probably been the day of celebration of Halloween that year, and the moon was gibbous - full moon was several days away.

Here are vintage images from advertisement, a dance card*, and a Saturday Evening Post illustration of Halowwen that year - 1922.

* The Dance Card comes from an Illinois High School from 1922. Lake Forest Academy, Personal Scrapbook of Edward Morgan Thomas, 1922, a student, 8 x 10 cm.

Fumocy: Full Moons During Lovecraft's Life

The Moon was very important to HPL. He spent hours studying it and thinking about it. It plays prominently in many of his stories.

The list is long, but in "comments" below I will post every full moon between 1900 and his death. I will keep researching - or have to calculate - the ones priior to that.

Fumocy is a modern term - an anagram - of "full moon cycles". See more here.

As HPL knew, the ancients were more focused on new moons, since it is very easy to see a new moon, but devilishly hard to spot a full moon. It easier to see when no light is reflected than 99.9% of full moon versus 99.7%. It took modern mathematicians to make the "full moon" easy to calculate. However, if you were a farmer the full moon was very important for harvesting and planting.