What is a “Cheese Moon”?

31 July 2014

The Short Answer (TSA)

. . . or is it “Moon Cheese”? What is “Moon Cheese?” Well, it’s “natural” and it’s "crunchy." Hey, wait. That’s a snack food. Opps, excuse me, its actually pure cheese from which all the moisture’s been removed. But, hold on. None of the flavors (it comes in three flavors) look green.

Let’s get back to the cheese moon.

Green Cheese Moon?

Did anyone ever really think that the Moon was made of green cheese?

Well, no. The expression “the moon is made of green cheese” is actually part of the legends and folklore of a number of cultures. And, the expression has always meant about what it means, today. A person who believed that the moon was made of green cheese was . . . well, . . . “a few cans short of a six-pack” if you know what I mean.

The old legends always had the same basic story line. A not-so-bright character sees the reflection of the moon in a pool of water (or pond, river, stream or well) and thinks it’s a large round block of cheese. Then, the mistaken viewer tries to get the cheese, falls into water, and almost drowns.

In most versions of the story, the hapless cheese-chaser is encouraged to believe the reflection is really a cheese by a clever passerby or companion. The clever deceiver, then, convinces the cheese-chaser to leave some valuable property on shore. Then, the companion makes off the abandoned valuables when the cheese-chaser falls into the water.

Several hundred years ago, “the moon made of green cheese” became proverbial in western literature. To hoax, con, or fool someone was often referred to as trying to make a victim believe that “the moon was made of green cheese.”

Another question. Why is the cheese green?

There’s no type of cheese that’s actually called green cheese. Blue is the closest color-name I found associated with cheese. To be honest, some “blue” cheese looks a bit blue-green to me. So, it may be possible to find some examples of green colored cheese, but no cheese-maker will claim the color green by name.

But in the old legends and folktales, “green” didn’t refer to a color. Instead the word “green” referred to the age of the cheese. A “green” cheese was a cheese that had not been aged yet.

Since an un-aged cheese isn’t actually the color green, what does a green cheese look like? It’s white and has the consistency of cream cheese. And that’s the point. The reflection that our easily fooled cheese-chaser would have seen in the water wasn’t the color green. Instead it was the reflection of a normal, white full moon, which he foolishly mistakes for a round block of un-aged cheese and tries to go after it.

So, in the end, we can conclude that absolutely no one has ever really believed that the moon was actually made out of cheese of any color. Right?

Well, not so fast. At least one commentator claims that the moon is made of cheese. Worse, there is a “cover up.”   Both NASA together with Google Moon (it’s just like Google Earth only with views of the Moon) have conspired to ingeniously conceal the Moon’s true . . . consistency or composition or something.

This spells real danger for the next astronauts who may, someday, visit our dairy-product satellite. I’m not sure that the theorist is entirely serious about all this, but a landing module could sink far and fast in a tranquil sea of cream cheese.

Our next lunar astronauts might be well-advised to secretly store a large quantity of crackers on board – just in case they are forced to eat their way out of the cream cheese version of quicksand.

Please read: Is the moon made out of cheese? [humor]

M Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri
(& Belleville, Illinois)
31 July 2014
About the Author

What is a "Blue Moon"?

24 April 2014

THE SHORT ANSWER (TSA)

A “Blue Moon” can be 1 of 3 things.

First, a “Blue Moon” means “a really rare event.”  The phrase, “once in a blue moon,” refers to a rare event that happens only once in a great while.

Second, a “Blue Moon” is a somewhat rare event involving the actual Moon.  I’ll call the "Blue Moon," the “extra” moon. 

Rarely, there can be 2 Full Moons in the same calendar month.  When this happens, the 2nd Full Moon in that month is called a “Blue Moon.” But that extra Full Moon “throws everything off,” and we get more "Blue Moons."

If 2 Full Moons fall in the same month, then, there will 4 Full Moons (instead of 3) in that season of the year, Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter.  The 4th and last (or extra) Full Moon in that calendar season is also called a “Blue Moon.” 

But wait, there’s more.

If 2 Full Moons fall in the same month, then, there will be 13 Full Moons (instead of 12) in that year.  What do you think they call that last, the 13th, Full Moon in December?  You guessed it.  That last Full Moon of the year is also called a "Blue Moon."  

So, if we’re talking about the actual Moon, there are 3 kinds of "Blue Moons." A "Blue Moon" is:

(1) the second Full Moon falling in a particular calendar month.  (There’s usually only 1)

(2) the fourth Full Moon falling in a particular calendar season of the year.  (There’s usually only 3)

(3) the thirteenth Full Moon falling in a single calendar year.  (There’s usually only 12)

The next time there will be 2 full moons in a single month will be in July of 2015 with Full Moons on July 2nd and July 31st.   The 2nd Full Moon in July, the Full Moon on July 31st, is a “Blue Moon.” 

July is part of the summer season.  So, in the summer of 2015, there will be 4 Full Moons instead of 3.  The 4th (and last) Full Moon of the summer falls on September 13, 2015 and is another "Blue Moon."  

Since this particular July falls in the calendar year 2015, there will 13 Full Moons in 2015 instead of the usual 12.  That last, 13th, Full Moon on December 11, 2015 is also a “Blue Moon.” 

Again, I think of the “Blue Moon” as the extra “Full Moon” at the end of the line in a particular month, season or year.

Oh!  I almost forgot . . .

Third, the phrase “Blue Moon” also describes a Full Moon that’s actually the color blue.  Major volcanic eruptions or forest fires can fill the atmosphere with so much grey dust that Moon will seem to have a blue-ish tinge:  A blue moon.

M Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri
(& Belleville, Illinois)
24 April 2014
About the Author

What is a “Blood Moon”?

24 April 2014

THE SHORT ANSWER (TSA)

Blood Moon / Lunar Eclipse

            No one is exactly sure what a “Blood Moon” is.  The term sounds like it must come from ancient mythology or legends, but it doesn't.  Actually, it’s quite new.  With the recent lunar eclipse, the term “Blood Moon” suddenly became “all the rage” with everyone describing the eclipse as a “Blood Moon.”

Blood moon: Lunar eclipse gazers mesmerized as red hue lights up sky  [story & video]

            A lunar eclipse is a sudden darkening of the, otherwise, full moon caused by the earth coming between the Sun and the Moon.  In other words, the earth casts a shadow on the moon causing it to suddenly “disappear”

            But not quite.

            Those of us who have seen a few lunar eclipses can tell you that the moon never completely disappears during an eclipse.  First, a thick, dark grey, smoky-looking shadow creeps over the moon.  But just behind the edge of the creeping darkness you can make out a dim, but distinctly visible, round moon.  But this darkened moon always has a dark reddish color.  So, every eclipse produces a very dim, dark-red moon.

            Even though no one has ever called it a “Blood Moon” before, the name is catching on.  But, to be accurate, there has been, at least, one special significance given to the name “Blood Moon.”  Two Christian Pastors have pointed to a biblical prophecy in which the appearance of a series of blood-red moons signals the end of time.  

See: Four Blood Moons: Something Is about to Change

M Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri
(& Belleville, Illinois)
24 April 2014
About the Author

What are the “Moon’s Phases”?

26 June 2014

The Short Answer (TSA)

            The “Moon’s Phases” are the shapes of the sunlit part of the Moon’s face as seen in the night sky.  I say shapes because there are a number of different shapes taken by the sunlit part of the Moon’s face during the regular cycle of phases.  We pass through a full cycle of phases about every 29.6 days.

The Moon's Phases (Northern Hemisphere)

            The cycle of Moon’s phases begins with the “New Moon,” a time when the Moon can’t be seen at all in the night sky.  Of course, the Moon is still there, but to a person watching the sky from the Earth, no part of the face of Moon is reflecting any of the Sun’s light during the New Moon. 

            After the “New Moon” phase, the first visible reflected light appears on the Moon’s face as a tiny sliver in the shape of a crescent.  The Moon is a “Crescent Moon” as long as “some, but less than half,” of the Moon’s face is sunlit. 

            After the first light appears on the face of the Moon, the sunlit part of the Moon’s face continues to increase or get bigger.  When the size of the sunlit part of the face of the Moon is increasing, the Moon is called “waxing.”  So, that first “Crescent Moon” after the “New Moon” is called the “Waxing Crescent Moon.”     

            The “First Quarter” phase is reached when one half (1/2) of the Moon’s face is sunlit.  The name “quarter” causes some confusion. If half the Moon’s face is sunlit, why is it called a “quarter?”  In the name, “First Quarter,” the “quarter” refers to time instead of the shape of the sunlit part of the Moon’s face.  At the time of the “First Quarter” the Moon is one quarter of the way through one full cycle of phases. 

            When “more than half, but less than all” of the Moon’s face is sunlit, the phase is called a “Gibbous Moon.”  And, when the sunlit part of the Moon’s face is increasing toward a “Full Moon,” the phase is called the “Waxing Gibbous Moon.” 

            When the sunlit part of the Moon’s face increases until the whole face of the Moon is sunlit, we have “Full Moon.”  After the “Full Moon,” the sunlit part of the Moon’s face begins to get smaller.  This decreasing in size is called “waning.”

            After the “Full Moon” phase is over, “more than half, but less that all,” of the Moon’s face is sunlit.  So, again, we have a “Gibbous Moon” phase.  But during this “Gibbous Moon” the sunlit part of the Moon’s face is getting smaller instead of getting bigger.  So, this phase is called the “Waning Gibbous Moon.”

            When the sunlit part of the Moon’s face has decreased to the point that only one half (1/2) of the Moon’s face is sunlit, we have the “Third Quarter Phase.”  Again, “quarter” refers to time.  So, at the “Third Quarter,” the Moon is three quarters (3/4) through the complete cycle of phases. 

            When the sunlit part of the Moon’s face gets smaller than a half – so that “some, but less than half,” of the Moon’s face is sunlit, the “Crescent Moon” phase is back, again.  But, because the sunlit part of the Moon’s face is getting smaller, this is the “Waning Crescent Moon.” 

            The sunlit part of the Moon’s face continues to get smaller until the Moon seems to disappear
from the sky.  Then, the first phase, the “New Moon,” is back, again, and the cycle starts over.

            Before modern calendars, clocks and watches, the Moon’s phases were used to tell time.  The “Full Moon” phase got a number of colorful names depending on the season of that particular “Full Moon.”  The “Harvest Moon,” for example, is the “Full Moon” phase around the time farmers harvest crops in the fall of the year. 

            The “New Moon,” also got some colorful names because the Moon seems to disappear.  The “Dark Moon” refers to the “New Moon.”   And certain “New Moon’s” are called “Black Moon’s.”

            The “New Moon,” “First Quarter,” “Full Moon” and “Third Quarter” are often called the “major phases.”  The major phases are most often seen on modern calendars.

            The minor phases include the Waxing or Waning Crescent and Gibbous Moons. 

What is the Moon’s “Perigee”?

26 June 2014

The Short Answer (TSA)

            The “Perigee” is that point in the Moon’s orbit when it is closest to the Earth. The Moon’s orbit around the earth is not perfectly circular, but is more like an oval (or ellipse). So, sometimes, the Moon is closer or farther away from the Earth.

The Moon's Orbit around the Earth

When the Moon is closest to the Earth, at its “perigee,” the Moon appears significantly larger. If you compare photographs, it’s surprising just how much the distance of the Moon from the Earth can affect the Moon’s apparent size in the night sky.

Difference in Size in the Night Sky -- Apogee & Perigee

However, both the Moon’s apogee (farthest point from the earth) and perigee (closest point to the earth) have been precisely calculated for centuries. But why?

What makes the Moon’s distance from the Earth so important?

The “tides.”

Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels in coastal areas caused by the gravitational pull of both the Sun and Moon on the Earth’s oceans.  At its perigee, the Moon exerts significantly more gravitational pull on the oceans.

In coastal areas, the change in sea level between high-tide and low-tide is greater when the Moon is closer to the Earth.  So, if the Moon is at its perigee, the coastal water levels will drop more at low-tide, than when the Moon is farther away from the Earth.  In the same way, if the Moon is at its farthest point from the Earth, it’s “apogee,” the low-tides will not be as low as usual because the Moon is so far away from  the Earth that the Moon's gravitational pull on the oceans is less.

What is the “Apogee of the Moon”?

26 June 2014

The Short Answer (TSA)

            The “Apogee” is that point in the Moon’s orbit when it is farthest away from the Earth. The Moon’s orbit around the earth is not perfectly circular, but is more like an oval (or ellipse). So, sometimes, the Moon is closer or farther away from the Earth.

 The Moon's Orbit Around the Earth

             When the Moon is farthest from the Earth, at its apogee, the Moon appears significantly smaller in the sky. If you compare photographs, it’s surprising just how much the distance of the Moon from the Earth can affect the Moon’s apparent size in the night sky.

 Perigee & Apogee -- Change in the Moon's size in the Night Sky

              However, both the Moon’s apogee (farthest point from the earth) and perigee (closest point to the earth) have been precisely calculated for centuries. But why?

              What makes the Moon’s distance from the Earth so important?

              The “tides.” Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels in coastal areas caused by the gravitational pull of both the Sun and Moon on the Earth’s oceans.  At its apogee, the Moon exerts significantly less gravitational pull on the oceans.

               In coastal areas, the change in sea level between high tide and low tide is less when the Moon is farther away from the Earth.  So, if the Moon is at its apogee, there will still be a low tide, but the water level won’t drop as far as it does at other times. In the same way, if the Moon is at its closest point to the Earth, it’s “perigee,” the low tides will be significantly lower than usual because the the Moon is so close to the Earth that it’s gravitational pull on the oceans is greater.
 



 

What is a “Dead Moon”?

26 June 2014

The Short Answer (TSA)

            “Dead Moon” is a relatively unpleasant name for a particular phase of the Moon – the “New Moon.”  There are other names for the “New Moon” such as “Dark Moon.”  And certain “New Moons” are called “Black Moons.”  But you don’t, often, hear people use the word “dead” to describe a phase of the Moon anymore.  But, the name “Dead Moon” is an old one and, there is a logic to it.   

 The New Moon, The Dark Moon, or the Dead Moon

              In the regular cycle of the phases of the Moon, the “New Moon” is that part of the cycle in which the Moon disappears.  Or, at least, the reflected light of the Sun on the Moon’s face disappears completely from the night sky.  So, you look up in the sky at night and . . . no Moon.  

 

             It makes sense that this phase would get the name “Dark Moon."  And it, also, makes as much sense that some Dark Moons are called “Black Moons.” But what’s with “dead” Moon?

            Well, just before the “New Years” holiday, on January 1st of every year, we see some symbolic images – often of the old year depicted an old man and the new year as a baby.    Likewise, each cycle of the Moon’s phases used to be compared to the lifespan of a human being.  

             After the Full Moon, as the light reflected by the Moon’s face shrunk, the Moon was said to be getting older.  When the last light disappeared from the Moon’s face, the life of the Moon belonging to that cycle of phases was said to have “died.”  Then, after one and one-half (1 1/2) to three and one-half (3 1/2) days of darkness, the Moon would be “reborn” -- as the first sliver of reflected light appeared on its face in the night sky.