Storytellers Night Sky

This week, Wednesday marks the 219th anniversary of the birth of the American essayist, poet, and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, and given that the Moon is waning through the dawn and approaching Venus as morning star at the same time, it’s fitting to consider Emerson’s essay on “Love.”

The Moon passed through eclipse in the midnight hour Monday, and now it’s a waning gibbous for the rest of the week, rising later and later until it catches up with Saturn in the morning sky on Sunday.

At solar eclipse we get to let off steam, so that was April 30. At lunar eclipse, we receive further forces of destiny. That happens May 16. And what happens in between, where we are this week?

The poetry of the morning sky is undeniable this week, as the Moon descends through the dawn in the spectacular company of Saturn, Mars, Venus and Jupiter.

The Lyrid Meteor Shower is active from April 15 to the 29th, and best viewing should be overnight Friday night, April 22nd, before the Moon rises.

Apparently the position of the Moon this week will provide an optimal moment for something never attempted before: a photograph of the people of the Earth in infrared.

The Equinox already happened, occurring on on Sunday, March 20, when the Sun crossed over the Celestial Equator heading North, and a balance was struck between day and night.

The Full Moon that happens on Friday this week will be the last Full Moon of the Winter Season, right near the star that marks the tail of Leo, the lion.

The configuration of planets and stars in the morning sky this week suggests that we’re in a “threshold crossing” moment.

Mythologically, Venus is goddess of love and beauty, and this week she comes to encounter with the now-dwarf-planet Pluto, named for the dread god of the underworld ~ but she doesn’t come unescorted!