Should I Leave Early?

Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Third Degree Ebb and Flow.

Crescent  moons  always  speak  of  new  beginnings. Something special  is  happening  between  now  and  the 29th of October, but I don’t know what.

The Orionid meteor shower is still going through the 29th, with the maximum already past. But that’s not the clue. No,  that’s  just gravy, if you remember the suggestion to “Gaze upon the darkness to better see the stars.”

The crescent moon and a star. It’s too early to spot the star yet. The moon is barely visible.

According to the almanac: The Moon is so far south that, when one day old on the 23rd, it sets before the Sun; the two-day-old Moon is equally impossible to see. These are the lowest, hardest-to-see crescent Moons in 18 years.

It may be the hardest to see in 18 years, but if you’re looking, you can find it and let it take your breath way.

Tonight, it’s a beautiful, thin sliver above the sunset. By Sunday, it will have waxed to First Quarter.

The star? Jupiter?  Antares?  The Moon passes 5 degrees south of Jupiter on the 24th and 0.4 degrees south of Antares on the 25th. I couldn’t see Jupiter in the glow of the setting sun tonight. Maybe tomorrow night, I’ll see Antares. Or Jupiter and Mercury  together,  about  6 PM Eastern. It should be a nice show.

Come to think of it, maybe I’ll head down to Camp Ocala tomorrow night in time to see the show.

After  that,  the  next  bit  of  loveliness   will  be  the Hunter’s  Moon  on  the  following  weekend.  Maybe  I’ll catch something wild.