Why the crescent lies on its back
Near the equinoxes the ecliptic meets the horizon at a steep angle, tipping the young crescent until it rests like a bowl. Look west, forty minutes after sunset, and you will catch it holding the ashen light.
Lunation No. 1 302 · 29 d 12 h 44 m
One turn of the synodic month
Perigee tracks a single lunation from dark to dark. Select any station on the dial to read its illumination, its hour, and the light it will lend the ground beneath you.
Synodic cycle dial
New Moon
0%
Sat 4 Jul · 04:12
- Illumination
- 0.0 %
- Moon age
- 0.0 days
- Distance
- 384 400 km
- Rises
- 05:41 ENE
02 —
The year's ledger
Twelve principal new moons, with the folk name carried by each lunation.
| Lunation | Folk name | New moon | Full moon | Peak illum. | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 296 | Wolf | 18 Jan · 22:41 | 03 Feb · 11:09 | 99.9 % | Apogee |
| 1 297 | Snow | 17 Feb · 09:02 | 04 Mar · 01:33 | 100.0 % | Micromoon |
| 1 298 | Worm | 18 Mar · 19:24 | 02 Apr · 15:58 | 99.7 % | Equinox |
| 1 299 | Pink | 17 Apr · 06:15 | 02 May · 04:22 | 99.8 % | Supermoon |
| 1 300 | Flower | 16 May · 17:44 | 31 May · 16:03 | 100.0 % | Supermoon |
| 1 301 | Strawberry | 15 Jun · 05:31 | 30 Jun · 02:47 | 99.6 % | Low arc |
| 1 302 | Buck | 04 Jul · 04:12 | 19 Jul · 11:38 | 99.9 % | Current |
| 1 303 | Sturgeon | 02 Aug · 15:20 | 17 Aug · 20:04 | 100.0 % | Perigee |
| 1 304 | Harvest | 01 Sep · 02:47 | 16 Sep · 04:55 | 99.9 % | Eclipse |
| 1 305 | Hunter | 30 Sep · 14:33 | 15 Oct · 14:12 | 99.8 % | Long night |
| 1 306 | Beaver | 30 Oct · 02:58 | 14 Nov · 01:39 | 100.0 % | Supermoon |
| 1 307 | Cold | 28 Nov · 16:11 | 13 Dec · 14:26 | 99.7 % | Solstice |
03 —
Field notes
Written from the ridge above Sallow Fen, where the horizon is honest.
Reading terminator relief
Never point a glass at the full disc. The terminator — that ragged seam between night and day — throws shadows long enough to show crater walls a kilometre high, and it moves a little each hour.
The half that is not a half
First quarter names a quarter of the orbit, not a quarter of the light. The disc reads fifty percent lit and the eye insists on more, because the brightest ground sits along the very edge you are watching.