Cool Moon Facts by Whip

Real astronomy and dated history, with sources. Documented traditions and folklore. Modern lunar astrology · symbolic, not predictive.

21 August 2017 New Moon, 0% lit

The Great American Eclipse

The Moon's shadow crossed the United States coast to coast, and an estimated 215 million adults watched it.

Totality is possible only because of an absurd coincidence: the Sun is about 400 times wider than the Moon and about 400 times further away, so the two discs appear almost exactly the same size. No other planet has a moon that fits so well.

Date
21 August 2017
Moon computed for
18:00 local time, UTC
Phase
New Moon
Illuminated
0%

Source: NASA eclipse programme (opens in a new tab)

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