Moonrise, sunset, colors, silence

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The light and colors were beautiful when I went walking just outside of town tonight between 7 and 8 pm! 
I had the whole desert all to myself. 

Meitar Forest is always green. 

The dry season is beginning and all the green grasses have turned golden. 

In the east -- moonrise over Meitar. 

In the west -- sunset. 
And to all a good night. 
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Sister Moon and stars of wonder

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One of the advantages to living in rural Austria this month is being able to see many stars in the very dark night.
Another awesome thing is seeing this cosmic trio for the last few mornings on my way to the chapel as the community of St. Francis gathers for 6 a.m. prayer and meditation.
Near the moon is Jupiter and below is Venus pairing with Mars!

As St. Francis said in his Canticle of the Sun --

Laudato si, mi Signore, per sora Luna e le stelle:
in celu l'ài formate clarite et pretiose et belle.

Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars;
in the heavens You have made them bright, precious and beautiful.
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
Also see The Night Sky Guy about this phenomenon.
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Missing the Hills of Jerusalem tonight

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Remembering cool evenings in the Jerusalem Hills, sunsets, jackals, old friends, and the terrace of St. Elisabeth's built by the 12th century Crusaders.
Sigh . . .
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Shabbat shalom from the hot desert.
And thanks to Kristine S. for taking the photo. 
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Star of wonder

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Whatever you are celebrating tonight -- the conclusion of Christmastide, the arrival of the Magi, Epiphany, Theophany, the Feast of Lights, or  the blessing of having a warm cozy house -- may a star of wonder guide you.
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My vintage posts about Epiphany  in Abu Ghosh and Jerusalem are here.
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Supermoon pretends to be a perimeter light

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Tonight's Harvest Moon Supermoon  lined up with the string of perimeter lights that encircle Meitar. 
The outermost ring of houses and then begins the desert.  

(See what I mean in yesterday's aerial photo/map.)
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A moon on the window pane

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In the previous post we watched how the big moon set, with the rising sun following on its heels.
As I stood outside the room where I stayed last night,  taking pictures of the celestial events, I glanced back and saw the moon reflected in my window.  
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All within half an hour

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I went north for an overnight at friends' house in my former village.
This morning at 5:27 the moon shining on  the olive leaves made them even more silvery than normal.

Ten minutes later the moon was setting in the beautiful still-cool Jerusalem Hills.

Sunrise followed moon set at 6:00, gradually spreading light in the Soreq Valley.
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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The mini moon rises

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I took a few steps out into the desert yesterday evening to catch the moon rising.
It was a mini moon,  aka  micro moon!

The useful site Time and Date explains:

Contrary to popular belief, the Moon orbits the Earth in an elliptical path, with one side of the path closer to the Earth than the other. The point closest to the Earth is called the perigee, while the point farthest from the Earth is known as the apogee. The average distance between the two extreme points is 237,700 miles or 382,500 km.

When a full Moon coincides with the Moon’s position at apogee, it is referred to as a Micro Moon or a Mini Moon.

Sometimes also called an Apogee Moon, a Micro Moon looks approximately 14 percent smaller, and around 30 percent less bright than a Super Moon.

The last Micro Full Moon occurred on November 28, 2012.

(For SkyWatch Friday.)
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Tonight's moon on the ramparts

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The almost-full moon rose over the Old City wall.
We walked here just a few hours ago,  at 5:25 pm,  in the magical light of not-day not-night. 

At the base of the ramparts Arab boys were kicking a ball around on what's left of the green grass in Gan Habonim park. 
I was happy for them because if they live inside the small Old City, there they have almost no grassy open spaces for soccer.
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Jerusalem is so beautiful, day and night.  Always.
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(This post joins hundreds of other bloggers' skies at SkyWatch Friday.)
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Wink at the moon for Neil Armstrong

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A full moon rises over the Jerusalem Hills

Neil Armstrong will be buried in Cincinnati on Friday, the day of the full moon.
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The statement Armstrong's family released upon his death requested that the public honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, adding "and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."
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(For SkyWatch Friday)
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NASA pics of transit of Venus !

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No, sorry, it's not the sun and Venus; it's just the full moon rising, as seen from my village in the Hills of Jerusalem.

BUT-- you can see stupendous photographs of the transit of Venus at NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html for June 9
and also here.
More here.
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(A post for SkyWatch Friday.)

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Baby pine trees!

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Continuing the previous post, here is what I found when exploring the burned down and chopped down forest next to my village in the Jerusalem Hills.

A sweet little pine shining in the day's last rays of sunlight.

Hundreds of baby pine trees have sprouted around each parent stump!
Enlarge the photo to better see the cuties.

But surely the Keren Kayemet foresters will have to thin them out, no?
That will be a Sisyphean task.
I hope they start before the little ones get too big.

So many pine cones gave so many seeds.
Fire is actually nature's way of releasing the seeds and propagating many more pines.

As I hiked out of the wadi, the moon was rising over the bare hills and of course it got snapped for SkyWatch Friday.

Someday, after a few decades of new growth of trees and vegetation, this may be a historic photo.
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Meanwhile, Catholics in Israel celebrated Epiphany today while the Armenians marked the feast day of St. James the Minor.
And tonight the Orthodox, Coptic, Syrian, and Ethiopian Christians celebrate Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, while we Jews welcome the Sabbath Eve.

Something for everyone!
Blessings to all.
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Moonrise over Hadassah

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The moon rises over Hadassah Medical Center.
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From our moshav across the valley we see the campus expanding year by year.
It is becoming like a little city on its own hill.
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The tall hospital tower is not yet finished but it already dwarfs the once-high helipad on the left.
You too can watch it being built on Hadassah's live webcam.
But no work going on today.
Today is a holiday. Happy Sukkot!
I wonder if the webcam will pick up the big moon this evening . . . .
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This post is for SkyWatch Friday.

Big moon emerging

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Come on moon, you can do it!
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The moon was just rising at 8:00 tonight from behind the two mountains where our closest neighbor moshavim (villages) are.
It gave enough light for me to see the empty road for my walk in the cool of the evening.
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Happy SkyWatch Friday.
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A sliver of a moon

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We were sitting outside watching the changing shades of color in the 8:00 pm sky.
This new moon of a few nights ago signaled the beginning of the Hebrew month Tamuz.
(Hebrew months and moons are explained in a previous post.)
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In less than three weeks Muslims will be watching for the next crescent moon, the sighting of which means that Ramadan observance can begin.
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Happy SkyWatch Friday!
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Lunar landscape by my son

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My son the photographer took this picture on the night of the lunar eclipse this month.
You can click and enlarge it a bit.

Edo lives in Los Angeles and does professional photography.
Thanks for e-mailing me the moon, dear Son!
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UPDATE: Edo says he used a 70-200 lens with a 2x extender, Canon body and lenses.
And that he photographs events, people and corporate on location.
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I'm happy to share the beauty with all at SkyWatch Friday.
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Lights out! Earth Hour tonight in Israel

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Lights out!
Tonight Israel takes part in Earth Hour.
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And for the sky-watchers at SkyWatch Friday here is a full moon rising over Jerusalem (on the horizon) as seen through my neighbors' gate lamp globe.
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Israel is doing the lights out thing tonight instead of on Saturday night like the rest of the world's 6,000 participating places.
Flipping electric switches (which is considered work) would be complicated for Jews who strictly observe the Sabbath, which ends sometime Saturday night.
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Twenty cities will be powering down tonight in this order:
20:00 – Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Yerucham, Modi’in-Maccabim-Reut
20:10 – Jerusalem, Dimona
20:20 – Petach Tikva, Nes Tsiona, Ra’anana
20:30 – Netanya, Rehovot, Arad, Eilat, Yavne
20:40 – Ashdod, Givataim, Herzlia, Bat Yam
20:50 – Holon, Haifa, Yokneam
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Life and Environment, (Israel's umbrella organization for environmental NGOs), will announce its Green Globe awards today in recognition of outstanding contributions to the environment as well as its annual Black Globe for damage done by an individual or entity to the environment.
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I just hope we can see a lot more stars for even one hour without all the light pollution.
Good night!
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A smooth and quick transition

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What a difference twenty minutes makes!

The last rays of sun reflected golden on  certain windows of Hadassah Medical Center.

By  5:37 the almost-full moon was shining over Jerusalem and Hadassah in a pinky sky. 
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Good night to all you skywatchers at SkyWatch Friday.
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Like day and night

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The full moon rose at 8 o'clock last Sunday over our neighbor mountain in the Jerusalem Hills.

Just five hours before that same moonrise, that same mountain was enveloped in smoke.

Here you can see the ancient terraces, black and all their vegetation burned.

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Miraculously the forest fire was stopped just outside our village gate (on the right side of this photo).

And the two villages on top of the higher hill were also spared at the last minute.

By early evening it was all over, after 250 acres of woodland had gone up in smoke.

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For SkyWatch Friday. May we, and you, know no more smokey skies, amen!

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(For more about the fire, please see my post from yesterday and from Sunday.)
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Moon dwarfed by pines

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Hey, how did the moon get so small?

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Hundreds of weekly participants are celebrating the 3rd birthday of SkyWatch Friday today!

Bloggers from over 80 countries have been getting to know each other by sharing their skies.

Mazal tov to the meme's founder, Dot. And thanks to those who followed her in leading the way: Tom, Klaus, and team Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, and Sylvia.
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