The view from Garden Street
By Michael Turton
On the evening of Friday, July 15 a spectacular full moon it up the sky. Philipstown.info’s Michael Turton caught this lunar images as seen from Garden Street in Cold Spring. From song titles too numerous to list, to the belief that the moon is actually made of cheese, to the saying “once in a blue moon,” to the allure of a harvest moon – the moon continues to fascinate young and old alike. Here are some lunar facts for you to consider on August 13, the date of the next full moon.
- The moon was likely formed when a planet larger than Mars struck the earth breaking off a chunk our home planet. That earth debris eventually consolidated to become the moon.
- The moon is roughly 4.6 billion years old, about the same as earth.
- The distance between the earth and its moon is 238,900 miles.
- The earth’s mass is eight times that of the moon
- It takes the moon 27.3 days to orbit the earth once.
- The moon orbits earth at a speed of 2,300 miles per hour
- The moon’s gravitational pull on the earth is what causes tides
- The dark side of the moon cools to about -272 degrees Fahrenheit while the bright side heats up to 243 degrees
- The bright areas of the moon visible to the naked eye are the highlands, the darker areas are the lower basins
- Lunar gravity is only one sixth that of the earth. As a result, the person writing this would experience the illusion of weighing a mere 40 pounds.
- Despite Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the moon at Tranquility Base in 1969, real estate prices in the area were not affected. *
* Source for all but the last fact: National Geographic News
Amazing shot!!