The Full Moon in January
January 2012 :
For all of us who really enjoy viewing the night sky, the presence of the Full Moon can be kind of daunting. Its brilliance drowns out all of the really neat deep-sky objects, but, to the public, this can often be the greatest thing they've ever seen through a telescope. In fact, they often feel as if they've accomplished something if they observe it without a filter, as their eyes really have had a workout.
For our ancestors, though, the changing shapes of the Moon weren't easily explained. The concept of the position of the Moon with respect to the Sun being indirectly responsible for this phenomenon just wasn't inherently obvious. To some, for instance, the Moon was a woman in love, who, as she was moving away from the Sun, was so happy that she celebrated the love of her life; unfortunately, when she had grown to her completely full phase, her lover left; she was then a woman scorned. It affected her to the point that she refused to eat, eventually dwindling down to virtually nothing. And, so the cycle continued - she would find love, be happy for about two weeks, then spend the next two weeks in mourning.
The Full Moon was also important because of the incredible way it lit up the ground. Because of this, it was referred to by different names, based on what was happening here on Earth. For January, it was often known as the Wolf Moon, because of the plaintive howls they made from lack of food at this time. Because of its occurring after the Christmas celebrations, it also was called the Moon after Yule. And probably, because January was the real beginning of the very cold, hard time of year, the Dakota-Sioux preferred to call it the Moon of the Terrible. However you want to refer to it, we don't have long to wait to see the Full Moon this month, as it occurs just a few days after the January meeting, early in the morning of Monday, January 9th.
