Over the moon

On the way home from school tonight I was thinking to myself, "What am I gonna blog about today?"  And there it was, floating up in the sky.

Quick, what movie?  This sketch was in one of my all-time favorites, It's A Wonderful Life.  Thought it was appropriate for the topic: the moon.

I really dig the moon, and now my mom and I will tell each other when there's a good looking one in the night sky.  It's a cool connection to have over 3,000 miles away from home, but also I just find the whole idea of the moon so humbling.  This HUGE rock floats around the planet just because that's the way space situated it.  It reminds me that I'm so small in this infinitely large universe, and I'm reminded how lucky we all are to just even exist here and now.  My respect for the moon has taught me to appreciate the short time I get to live on this rock, and that's inspired me to make sure I'm living to the fullest.

Fun fact: I was 22 years old when I first learned that the crescent shapes we see on the moon aren't from the earth's shadow.  Smart guy I am, huh.  A friend of mine who taught middle school science told me that it's a common misconception (I think he was just being nice) to think that the dark part of the moon is the earth's shadow when in reality, we only really get to see the earth's shadow on the moon during lunar eclipses (like the total lunar eclipse that happened on December 21st - and yes, I did stay up to see it, and yes, it was awesome).

I didn't expect this to become a science lesson but I'm just going with the flow.  This diagram explains what I had wrong about the light hitting the moon.  The inner circle is what the moon looks like in space (always the same).  The outer circle shows what we see when looking at it from our small little planet.  So it's not the earth's shadow that's causing the different phases to occur, it's just the angle that we see sunlight hitting the moon from.

You're probably like, "I've known this since 3rd grade."  Or maybe you didn't.  Either way, it's cool to think about.

In closing, I'm a nerd who appreciates the moon and I'm cool with that.  Maybe next time you go outside and see that pale yellow light you'll give it a second thought, but if you don't, it's all good.  The moon will still be there either way.