an ostrich-egg moon

an ostrich-egg moon

floats in the pink arch between

blue and deeper blue

Before dawn the waning full Moon hovers in the pink arch above the golden arch of the dome. No longer perfectly round, the Moon appears oval, like a giant white egg.
          Twilight gives a double gift, whether it's early evening or early morning. In the half hour or so after the Sun slips below the horizon or before it rises above the crown of the Earth, its light is refracted by the Earth's atmosphere. The sky nearest the Sun is suffused with a golden glow, called the twilight arch. In the opposite direction, the twilight wedge appears on the horizon, a blue band with a pink band above it. The deep blue band is the Earth's shadow, while the pink band is the sky illuminated by the sunlight. In the evening, as the Sun sinks lower, the blue band rises higher until the pink band disappears and the blue shadow blends into the night sky. The opposite happens in the morning.
          We know that the Moon appears full when it is opposite the Sun, rising as the Sun sets or setting as the Sun rises. This morning it is slightly higher in the sky than the Sun, floating in the twilight wedge, like a pearl on a pink velvet band, a gorgeous gift to start the day.