Relative to any fixed location on Earth, a total eclipse of the sun is a rare event. I remember watching the last one visible from the continental U.S. in 1979 from the sidewalk in the front yard of our Piscatway, NJ home – through a piece of green welder’s lens my Dad handed to me. I had no idea of the significance or rarity of the event at that time as that was his last one & the next one won’t happen for us here until 2017.

The longest solar eclipse our generation will see until 2032 will occur in part of the Western Hemisphere on July 21 and on July 22, 2009 in the Eastern Hemisphere. It will be only a singular occurrence with the difference in dates being caused by our International Date Line. Those of us in the United States will not experience this eclipse first hand, but in this Information Society, live coverage should be scheduled to be broadcast and relayed primarily from China and Japan. I’ve been checking CNN, but haven’t found anything yet.

More information about this eclipse is available at NASA’s Eclipse Web Site.

As close as it is to the Sun, the surface never sees direct sunlight since thick clouds always cover the entire surface. It’s the reflection of Sunlight off of this cloud-base that is responsible making Venus not only the brightest natural object in our nighttime sky but also bright enough to be seen in the middle of the day.

When Venus is in position between the Earth and the Sun (inferior conjunction), it makes the closest approach to Earth of any planet. It reaches inferior conjunction, on average, every 584 Earth days (5 Venutian Solar days) with a recent occurrence on 29 Mar 2009 (± 2 days) ¹ It has since ”passed” the Earth in it’s orbit around the Sun and went from being visible after Sunset to now visible before Sunrise.

Like our Moon, Venus exhibits “phases” but only in telescopic view. This could only be possible if the planet orbited the Sun and this discovery in the 17th century by Galileo supported the unfathomable 16th century Copernican heliocentric, or Sun-centered, idea that we are not the center of the Universe (although I know a few who’d probably still argue that point to date ;) ).

A couple of Carl Sagan Astronomy Videos on YouTube:

1. Pale Blue Dot 
2. The Cosmic Calendar

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We learned very early on, in English classes of all places, that Thoughts (ideas) are things. But it is being conscience of the space between them that differentiates us from the other mammals. If you say something negative to me, I can choose to be offended and react violently or I can choose relative indifference and accept your opinion as yours. My decision is “in the gap between the thoughts”, where other animals instinctively react.

If the above example seems to “airy” or “pseudo-scientific” for you, let’s take something solid in our observable surroundings, say a block of lead. We’ll all agree that although it “looks” solid, it is been repeatedly shown through the Scientific Method to be a mass of moving molecules with space between them.

As we further break this structure down, we find atoms; protons, electrons, neutrons, and croutons all orbiting each other with the same precision of a solar system and let’s not ignore the space between them. [Apologies for the high-school physics/chemistry here, but it's foundational.]

Quantum Physics deals with this composition with names like quarks, bosons, & leptons. On this sub-atom level, there is no difference between the particles that make our block of lead different from a block of gold. It is the information and organization of these particles that makes the difference – again the space between.

If we can’t tell the difference between lead and gold on the sub-atomic level, could it be that we’re just standing too close to the trees to see the forest from our current perception of things Astronomical? Put another way, What if you could look back from far enough away so as not to see the space between the planets?

Let me interject here with a postulation that if you were able to remove just one of these sub-atomic particles of quanta from our sample structure, you would change it’s organization, and consequently its properties on our observable level. You might then make this analogous to removing just one human life energy from the face of the planet before its time, and begin to see the importance of every individual & the ripples our actions as a life-force create in the cosmos.

Biogeneticists are discovering in their work unraveling the double-helix structure of DNA that the mutagen & disease activities may actually be occurring in the space between the base pairs and not with the molecules themselves.

Einstein’s research on a Unified Theory was an attempt to unify the General Theory of Relativity (gravity as a property of the geometry of space and time – or spacetime) with that of electromagnetism and I think it is what led to work on a Theory of Everything. An excellent explanation of why our use of Mathematics may or may not be sufficient in understanding our perception of space is given by Mario Livio.

Maybe someday we’ll consider understanding pre-BigBang history – the creation of our world ex-nihilo (”our world” here being the entire cosmos, not just this particular ball of mud).

As you’re probably already aware, all Full Moons rise around Sunset, therefore there is no long, dark period before we see them. The main difference between your “Harvest” moon and a regular, run-of-the-mill Full Moon is the time of day between subsequent nightly risings.

Moon risings after an “ordinary” Full Moon are supposedly 50 minutes later each night, but only 30 minutes later each night after our Moon in question. So my original paragraph was only half tongue-in-cheek & has roots in folklore; but Copernicus says it is not the reason “why” and that it’s Earth’s narrower angle of orbit around the Sun (ecliptic) at that time of year that make for the earlier moons that follow this one.

It has been said that this moon is no bigger, brighter or yellower than any other Full Moon, but this is just when people want to notice it. We can compare our upcoming Full Moons to check the validity of that statement by using the table of dates included at the end of this post.

Also of note would be that none of the above applies to peoples of the Southern Hemisphere who experience these Moons during our Spring and it’s difficult to Harvest so soon after a snow. They must get a “Planters Moon”.

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Got Moon?
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I was absolutely blown away by the size of the last Full Moon when it was breaking over the horizon! It seemed to be rivaling for attention against the morning Sunrise.

When la Luna (or any celestial body for that fact) is close to the horizon, we are looking at it through more of our own atmosphere (and consequently more particles) than when it is closer to the meridian. Our atmosphere deflects the bluish-white portion of the light before it can get to our retina while the reddish frequencies of the spectrum get through. It short: It’s our perception.

The Moon may apparently be the largest object in our night sky, but due to Venus’ closer proximity to our Day Star and her permanent layer of sulfuric acid cloud-cover reflecting 60% of the Suns light back into space, I would have to say that she is the brightest object in our night sky. Also, since Celena is so high when I look out my back door around this time, Venus is the first celestial object I lay eyes on, but once in a Blue Moon I’ll catch Orion.

If we weren’t able to communicate ideas through the rapid switching of these electrons, we might very well be outside on our front stoop in Chichen Itza enjoying a celestial matinee.

It’s my understanding that according to Mayan knowledge (and the Sacred Round of Katuns), our course of rotation with respect to the stars rather than with respect to the Sun (aka: sidereal space), will bring us to a populated zone with many asteroids and other objects influencing our gravitational field. Considering the cosmic circumstances which we lack active conscious awareness (i.e. the effect of the Moon on the oceans, the Sun switching magnetic poles every 11 years, etc), these celestial bodies could produce oscillations in many levels that could move Earth’s magnetic field again and shift tectonic plates. Their belief of “the end of the world as we know it” is purported to be based more on logic than religion. See also: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast15feb_1.htm

Mayans seemed to have a circular relationship with time while the Western tradition is horizontal or linear and they understood that seasonal factors fall within the rules of the Universe and could study the Zenithal passages of the Sun due to their position in relation to the ecliptic. Unfortunately, early Christian conquerors destroyed most of the ancient records of this native American culture.