Free Wheelin'

I saw him through my telescope

On a cloudless night in June

As he rested between voyages

At his beach house on the moon

Jimmy Buffett

I admit it. I am a certified Selenophile. Especially when on the road. The truth is, I do it at home too; and when I am with Shira, we do it together.

Whoa – hold on kids, this is not what you think…

I would say I am proud of being such, but I think many of us who spend a lot of time on the road, away from home, do the same thing.

I watch the moon… it keeps me grounded.

Although most simply call our orbiting friend the Moon, the Romans called it Luna, and the Greeks Selene – thus Selenophile. Other cultures also worshipped the Moon.

The Moon-god in Mesopotamian religion was named Nanna in Sumer and Sin in Babylon. The moon's cycles of waxing and waning were seen as a representation of birth, death, and rebirth. Nanna was associated with cattle herds and was believed to bring fertility and prosperity. Sin was also worshipped for wisdom and controlling waves, coral, and a woman's menstrual cycle.

The Sumerians, a very smart ancient bunch of kids, were among the first to create a calendar based on the phases of the moon.

The Bible’s Genesis describes the Moon as one of God's "great lights" to separate day from night and mark seasons, days, and years.

Men and women, and all sorts of creatures, have been watching our closest neighbor since the earliest of days.

In the beginning…

Earth's Moon, Luna, is thought to have formed in a tremendous collision. A massive object ― named Theia after the mythological Greek Titan who was the mother of Selene, goddess of the Moon ― smashed into Earth, flinging material into space that became the Moon. The collision occurred when Earth was still a young planet, and the debris from the impact tore apart Earth's crust.  The debris from the impact, a mixture of hot gas and molten rock, coalesced into a separate entity that eventually became the moon. 

The moon formed 239,000 miles away from Earth. It was initially molten, but within 100 million years, the moon's magma ocean crystallized, and less-dense rocks rose to the surface to form the lunar crust. 

According to those who look at the moon from a scientific point of view, compared to romantics like me, or Larry Talbot, it takes a little more than 29 days for the moon to completely go from new (nothing to see here folks) to full, and back to new again.

Each one of the “phases” has a name - the new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent; and it gives one a feeling of accomplishment, and for me, a bit of grounding when traveling – as the moon, and Earth, arecCelestial companions.

Now it has pieces of spacecraft from the Earth, or as Buffett put it – “relics from Apollo trips when the earth men came to play.”

The Moon enchants and though our Star, Sol, is the giver of all life on this planet, you really can’t look at it for more than a split second – and a bit more at dawn and dusk; the moon, on the other hand, can be stared at, watched, followed, and followed all the night through… on every clear night.

I recall being out west, and while walking back along the wide main road through the town of Mobridge, along the Missouri River, glancing up and seeing a slight sliver of the Moon – to the right side.

There was no Moon the few days before, and this little waxing crescent would mark my second night on the road. By the time I had gotten back home it would be way past full, and already waning.

I wondered if Lewis & Clark had the moon looking like this when they first tread through here in 1804. I would bet all in their party watch the moon too. We Selenophiles are everywhere.