That doesn't seem right, astronomy-wise.
I haven't been the same since somebody explained the Redshift to me.
It doesn't seem wise. Right, Astronomy?
It is right. Draw yourself a picture.
The full moon does rise at sunset. Huh. I knew the moon rose well before or after sunset, but I didn't know the full moon was always up at sunset.
Only full moons get eclipsed. That should be an aphorism for something as well.
Somebody should have an aphorism using the word 'gibbious.'
Anyway, I learned something today. Don't nobody let that happen again.
The Wikipedia entry for lunar phases has a gorgeous animation of the moon. I hadn't realized it noticeably changes shape and size over its cycle.
"A full moon rises at sunset" : "it's always darkest before the dawn" :: "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" : "don't count your chickens before they've hatched".
Easy-peasy.
"The full moon rises at sunset" is on-air code for "the drug shipment has arrived." Everybody knows that. (It's not a very secure code.)
(In fact these days only Edmontonian drug runners use it... 'nuff said.)
Anyone with an adage to coin should be sure to use the word cockshut.
"The owl of Minerva flies at dusk by the light of the full moon except when it's darkest before the dawn."
The full moon sets at sunrise. It is not darkest before the dawn.
I hadn't realized it noticeably changes shape and size over its cycle.
The whole crescent/circle thing passed you by?
Somebody should have an aphorism using the word 'gibbious.'
Or indeed 'hibbious-gibbious'.
Gibbous was I ere I saw Suobbig.
"I see a big moon rising", Tom waxed gibbously.
The darkest hour *is* just before the dawn when you've got a waxing gibbous. It's been a long time coming . . .
Being a werewolf, I once used the fact that the full moon is on the opposite side of the sky from the sun to navigate my way home. It was early in the night, and the sun sets in the west, so the moon had to be in the east.
You don't need meaning in your aphorisms. Just look soulful and say it. Nod a bit.
The moon is as high as necessary.
You can't take a full moon with you.
You can't leave a full moon at home.
Reminds me.
Chapter 1 of Charlie Stross's new book starts with this: A clear spring night over Bavaria. Cloudless and chilly. The setting moon is a waning crescent.
Such (incorrect) detail!
I think there's a Lovecraft story where Lovecraft mentions a gibbous moon at a particular time of year and includes a footnote saying "if you look this up you'll see that there really was a gibbous moon at that time - I don't make everything up!"
My memory is hazy on this and a quick search of online Lovecraft texts didn't turn up the footnote. I guess it could have been something inserted by the editor from Lovecraft's correspondence in the three volume edition of Lovecraft's works I used to check out from the public library and read when I was a kid.
33: Good catch. I have to draw a picture (or search on Google) to see why that is incorrect--the details of when the moon is "ahead of" or "just behind" the sun are not intuitively obvious to me. Since "waxing crescent" works maybe it's a typo ...
34: Apparently Lovecraft used "gibbous moon" with some frequency. And this book of stories inspired by Lovecraft is titled By The Light of a Gibbous Moon.
33 wasn't an original observation. My dad read it and it hit his sailor nerves. After he posted his annoyance on FB, I went back, read it, and thought for a while. It is the type of thing that can bring your reading to a screeching halt.
Even waxing crescent would be a problem here. That sets at about 9. Not long after sunset. The story makes it seem much later at night.
It's possible the Lovecraft footnote I'm thinking of is actually about waxing or waning. I eventually bought those Lovecraft books I used to check out of the library (at which point I mostly stopped reading Lovecraft), but I'm not going to dig them out of storage to look this up.
First, good lord, whoever caught that is crazy sharp.
Second, if a new moon sets at sundown and a full moon sets at sunrise, why wouldn't a waxing crescent set halfway through the night? Is "crescent" closer to new than full?
A waxing crescent would set from sunset through sometime before the middle of the night. A quarter moon is halfway there.
42: + and separates crescent from gibbous,
"there' = "full"
Stop Making Sense.
Apparently Lovecraft used "gibbous moon" with some frequency.
He probably liked the word because it sounds like "gibbering".
Great green gobs of gibbering gibbous gopher guts.
Bedtime methinks.
Interesting n-gram for waxing/waning crescen/gibbous. Waning crescent way out front for a long time and slowly over time the waxing and waning combination of each have begun matching each other.
Worth noting here that, while moonrises must needs be tied to sunset, moonsets aren't linked to sunrise, since the period between sunrise and sunset varies pretty widely.
Actually, I'm not clear on how this plays out at the poles and equator. I guess full moons occur on the same night all over the world, but rise earlier/later depending on your latitude?