Abstract
The Moon is our nearest neighbor in space, Earth’s partner in a never-ending dance around the Sun, and for much of each month it’s also the most prominent object in the nighttime sky. The Moon whirls around the celestial vault in just over 27 days and each day appears slightly different – a sliver of light at the beginning and end, a brilliant silvery disk in between. Compared to every other naked-eye object in the sky, the Moon is a flagrant show-off. Its regular waxing-waning cycle is so obvious that it formed the basis of early calendars, providing a convenient interval of time between the day and the more subtle annual cycle of the Sun and seasons. While there is only one purely lunar calendar in wide use today, the Moon remains an important cultural symbol. The flags of more than half a dozen nations feature its crescent, and some of the world’s most important religious festivals are linked to its phases. As both a signpost of the cosmic and a symbol of inaccessibility, the Moon has been a source of inspiration and mystery throughout the ages.
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Reddy, F. (2012). Moon Dance. In: Celestial Delights. Patrick Moore's Practical Astronomy Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0610-5_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0610-5_2
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