Three moons

12/9/11 7:45 pm, looking up, Armour House

Yes, I know it is the same moon, just three visions of it in these paintings. In the first image from December 9th at 7:45 pm, there is something I'm calling a moonbow. Since there is a Wikipedia entry for it, it must exist, right? Apparently Aristotle thought so for he wrote about the rare moon rainbow in his Meteorology.


There was a lot of moisture in the air, a very dewy dew point, and maybe it reflected a ring of moonlight around the moon as I looked up at it. A full moon halo. So a true moonbow is white since it emanates from moonlight. Any bow containing prismatic colors is caused by sunlight.

12/10/11. 5:45 am, facing west

The second moon painting is the setting moon on the following morning at 5:45 am. This moon wears an altostratus cloud cap. This portrait was taken just before the lunar eclipse which we were unable to see on the East coast of the US. The moon set here before the eclipse began.

12/11/11, 7:30 pm, facing east

The third moon still looks full but is a waning gibbous moon at 92 percent illumination. The moon shine is particularly bright and strong. The moon face is seems somewhat quizzical and amused in its personality. Altogether, this is a charming, waxing gibbous moon.