HELLO VENUS, HELLO MARS – EARTH CALLING FROM JEFFERSON PARK IN CLEVELAND, OHIO – DO YOU READ ME?

What a celestial encounter – spread two weeks apart during the July lunar month!

FIRST: On the evening of Sunday, July 15, as I was playing tennis – I was suddenly dazzled by a unique sight in the western sky. I immediately grabbed my camera (never leave home without it) and was able to photograph Venus in close proximity to the crescent moon (first photograph).

Called the “Evening Star” – the extra brightness comes from the reflection of sunlight on the cloud covered planet’s atmosphere.

Venus is the second closest planet from the Sun in our solar system – the first is Mercury, our Earth is third, and Mars is the fourth – followed by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Little Pluto – see attached graphic.

While our moon and Venus appeared close together – they were actually farther apart. Our moon was nearly 224,000 miles away – and Venus was nearly 400 times farther – 88 million miles away.

Over the following evenings – after July 15 -- I was able to watch Venus and our moon as it continued to look bigger.

SECOND: Thursday, July 27 was the evening to observe the full July moon also called the Buck Moon.

I was able to see the full moon from the tennis courts as it made its way up in the south-eastern sky. After I finished tennis around 10:30 p.m. – I was able to see the full moon – see the third photograph.

Being a cloudy evening – the moon soon hid behind the clouds and was nowhere to be seen after I left the courts. See fourth photograph.

Well, not one to give up – I went home and waited till around 2:30 a.m. – and was able to see the full moon and Mars too (second photograph) over the backyard of our house..

I also photographed the front of our house – located on the south side of Jefferson Park. See fifth photograph.

Earlier, as I approached our house, after playing tennis, Smokey and Gingy -- our two outside cats – son and mother) were their to greet me. They walked over the street and I had to shoo them back. They were happy to see me. Like me, I guess they were waiting for the full moon to show up.

The July moon is also called the “Buck” moon because a buck’s new antlers push out at the forehead in this month. This fact could not be confirmed as no deer were sighted in the neighborhood in July.

There was a full lunar eclipse on July 27 – unfortunately the eclipse was not visible in the Cleveland area. In areas where the total eclipse was visible – the July moon is called the “Blood” moon because the moon becomes a dark reddish-brown as it moves behind the earth’s shadow.

The full Moon -- a sight to behold -- is a marvel in our mysterious universe.

Formed 4.6 billion years ago – our Moon always presents the same face to us – because it spins on its axis at the same rate it orbits planet Earth.

The next full Moon will arrive on August 26, 2018.

Have a happy lunar month.