It is a wolf moon rising at dusk. I took this on the way home from work. That amazing ball of light, right on the horizon, is the moon. I copied this article from Robert Roy Britt that was posted on aol.com. Thanks Robert!

Robert Roy Britt

Space.com

(Jan. 29) – Tonight’s full moon will be the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. It offers anyone with clear skies an opportunity to identify easy-to-see features on the moon.

This being the first full moon of 2010, it is also known as the wolf moon, a moniker dating back to Native American culture and the notion that hungry wolves howled at the full moon on cold winter nights. Each month brings another full moon name.

But why will this moon be bigger than others? Here’s how the moon works:

The moon is, on average, 238,855 miles from Earth. The moon’s orbit around Earth – which causes it to go through all its phases once every 29.5 days – is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse. One side of the orbit is 31,070 miles closer than the other.

So in each orbit, the moon reaches this closest point to us, called perigee. Once or twice a year, perigee coincides with a full moon, as it will tonight, making the moon bigger and brighter than any other full moons during the year.

Tonight it will be about 14 percent wider and 30 percent brighter than lesser full moons of the year, according to Spaceweather.com.

As a bonus, Mars will be just to the left of the moon tonight. Look for the reddish, starlike object.

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I hope you got a chance to see it tonight. It was a true delight.

Cold and windy but blue sky clear and it was a long day. Did get a lot of work done though. Tomorrow I have my first appointment with a new primary care physician. Haven’t been able to get mammograms without one. So I’m overdo. Not nervous about it, I am what I am. But none the less, it is getting to me a little.

Listening to Shirley Bassey and now Al Green. I love those two kinds of music. Among many others…Very relaxing but yet exhiliarating. I’m not sure how that can be but it is. It is those times when you feel strong and ready for the onslaught. You study it as it comes at you and slay the enemy.  Victorious. Again.

Charlie got a bath! Isn’t he so handsome! I know it is slightly out of focus but Charlie doesn’t sit still. I like this picture too because I don’t often see the black side of his face – his dark brown eyes disappear into the black hair. I often find myself talking to the eye that is on the white side of his face. I wonder if he can tell.

The US Mint is releasing four new pennies in 2010 for the 100th anniversary of the first Lincoln cent illustrating phases of his life: early childhood; formative years; early career; and presidency. I now have the 1st and second ones – log cabin and lincoln reading a book sitting on a log. I’ve been fitting them into my current cent folders.

 The DC and territories quarters are out now – they are all 2009 issues. I have DC, Guam, Puerto Rico and Northern Mariana Islands coins but all Phillys. I still need American Somoa and US Virgin Islands from both mints. These I’m having a tough time fitting into my coin folders because of spaces allotted not because of a size change.

I am surprised and happy about the new America the Beautiful quarters. I will have to order new folders for them. When I learned of the DC and territories coins I realized that I had been looking forward to completing my coin collecting hobby. But with a quick adjustment of attitude I now look forward collecting all of these new coins. I find pleasure in the hunt.