Stargazing Guy

– J.R.R. Tolkien (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973)

An interesting quote, apparently from the Lord of the Rings, but it doesn’t stand up to a Google search! Even if its in one of the movies, this is a misattributed quote.

Even more interesting (in my opinion), it isn’t true – moonlight doesn’t technically exist. Its reflected sunlight:

Of course, the sentiment behind the quote isn’t based on science – its less literal and more emotional. On one level its saying the moon is so bright and so beautiful, that it outshines all the stars surrounding it. Maybe, if you were to say it to someone, its because you think that person is amazing!

Let me know what you think?

PS: I love coffee. BuyMeACoffee, leave a message with a date and time and we can share it, remotely, at the same time, and think about the Cosmos.

In the meantime, take care of yourself and if you can, someone else, too, because as Adam Smith said, “we naturally desire not only to be loved but to be lovely”.

Credit for opening image: David Hernandez, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This image of the full moon was taken on February 8th 2020 from the Danube Island (Donauinsel) situated in Vienna. The set-up was a SkyWatcher EvoStar 102/1000 achromatic Refractor on a Sky Watcher EQ3-2. The Camera was a Canon Eos 500D with MagicLantern installed. The images were taken without tracking.