Liberty wears the moon

Liberty wears the moon

crescent above her golden

crown of sun rays

After a day of rain, the setting sun first turned the departing cumulus clouds into nursery rhyme pink and blue.

Then dramatic copper and bronze rolls above a golden dome.

And finally, after paying Lady Liberty a visit, the bright crescent moon slid down into a bank of black clouds.

New Moon behind a veil

New Moon behind a veil

of pale blue edged in pink

flirts with Jupiter

After bidding adieu to Venus, the New Moon is flirting with Jupiter tonight, peeking coyly through a pale blue veil edged in pink. The beautiful corona is caused by moonlight diffracting as it passes around the small particles of a thin layer of cirrocumulus clouds. The three celestial companions are still engaged in English Country dancing, but now the Moon is turning contra corners, first with Venus on her right, then with Jupiter on her left.

the mottled blue Moon

the mottled blue Moon

in a silver cup dances

round Jupiter and Venus

Just after sunset the mottled blue Moon sitting in a silver cup swings between Jupiter and Venus, like English Country dancers doing a hey for three. On the other side of the canopy of stars, red Mars hurries to catch up with the trio. The eyes perceive three bright orbs in close proximity and the imagination endows this image with meaning.
          An Earthling, holding up a small appendage, measures the apparent distance between the Moon and her two companions: a hand span separates Moon from Jupiter, while Moon and Venus are a mere thumb's width apart. To the eyes, the Moon looks like a huge celestial ball and socket joint, while Venus seems as big as a six carat diamond and Jupiter just a diamond chip. Yet the mind knows that this difference in apparent size is only an appearance: Jupiter is actually a giant planet and Venus is far larger than the Earth's satellite.
         Appearance means "to bring forth," and this ability to bring forth relationships between disparate things is one of the greatest procreative acts of being human.