A (New) Moon is Born
June 28, 2012
I saw the waning crescent moon, a small sliver of white rising above the Earth limb. It reminded me of a glowing fingernail clipping. Like a rainbow of only blue, the atmosphere on edge filled the gap between Earth and space—electrifying diaphanous beauty.

Venus was there, watching. Aldebaran in Taurus was an orange dot. The ghost of Full Moon Past, the complete lunar disk, was dimly lit by the bluish hue of earthshine. The time was 07:45 GMT on June 18, 2012.

One orbit later, at 09:17 GMT, I saw a sliver of a sliver.
Work beckoned me for the next three orbits (about four and a half hours) before I could observe another moonrise.

At 13:56 GMT, there was only the smallest glint that we even had a Moon.
The next orbit I was waiting at dawn, but saw no moon. Initially I was baffled. Then it occurred to me that I had been witness to the birth of a New Moon.
Other posts by this author
- A Poem for Saturday: One Planet is Not Enough
- From the Diary of a Space Zucchini: The Frontier
- From the Diary of a Space Zucchini: Preparing for Departure
- From the Diary of a Space Zucchini: Gardener's Spacesuit
- From the Diary of a Space Zucchini: Baby on Board!
- With Warm Regards
- Stray Light
- From the Diary of a Space Zucchini: Happy Sprout Day!
- From the Diary of a Space Zucchini - What Do Dragons Eat?





Aug. 18, 2012
Marco P.
I can't imagine how much it has to be strange between the many different things of being up there, also the fact that your days seems to pass and actually pass differently. The sun starts to appear and disappear every hour and so the moon, the stars are always visible, (not considering that you sea Earth everytime) and you think that you are away from Home but instead you are at Home.
It must be amazing and confusing at some point.
Moon is amazing and we have so much connection with her. All the liquids do.
There is a lot more to know from esoterical studies (just reading and also practicing) the so called magic books ... you can learn a lot of the moon by reading on these topics.
Also being an astronomer in the past was considered being a magician\wizard or a witch.
I wish we could have these posts more often, you should be going up on the ISS more often!