Our Only Moon

While trawling the net recently, I stumbled upon the NASA website which has a series of findings from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter – LRO – as it is fondly called. LRO has finished its first year in orbit and has thrown open a surprising amount of information about the moon.

The temperature in the coolest part on the moon, says Diviner, LRO’s temperature equipment, is a freezing -415 degrees Fahrenheit (-248 Celsius) at the Hermite Crater. And there is a part of the moon which we never get to see from the earth. Read about all these here.

Over the years, the moon has remained a mystery for us. Studying it, its proximity to the earth and the effects it has on our daily lives has been something which started way back in the fifth century BC. From the ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras through the Chinese of the Han Dynasty to Aryabhata in 499 AD, they spent years trying to discover the moon’s secrets. It was Galileo who broke the myth that the moon was a smooth sphere. The Soviet missions and subsequent missions by USA confirmed it. In 1969, man first set foot on moon. The moon still held secrets, and we are still far from unraveling all of it.

Chandrayaan 1 tried to discover the moon from a perspective which was never tried before. It said that there were traces of water on the moon; the LRO has come out with more information. And there is more to come, if we were to believe NASA. We lap it up, and wait for more.

But to me, as the moon glides across the dark skies every night, it is just another heavenly body. I look up at it in awe. Is it because the moon wavers like my mind? I am not sure. From the new moon day to the full moon, the moon is never similar. The waxing and waning moon never ceases to surprise me.

What makes the moon special? Is it because we have just one original moon orbiting the earth? Or is it because we Indians strike up a kinship with ‘Chandamama’ as the moon is fondly called when our mothers pointed him out to us in our childhood?

I can go on staring at the moon for ages, and never get tired of it. It is way too cool and relaxing. I can imagine just why young lovers prefer its cool backdrop for their meetings. How from the time of Romeo and Juliet, the moon has borne a silent witness to many an amorous meeting. I know for sure that this is why cinema still loves to romance in the moonlight.

But then, a moon is not just about romance. Go to any forest nearby. You can just feel the grass sprout, the owls hoot and glowworms sparkle on a moonlit night. The beasts of prey make their presence felt. Is this the perfect night for a man to transform to a werewolf? For Dracula and his band of vampires to come out and feast on? I am not sure. Spooky movies sure have moon as the backdrop.

Moon has been considered a god – both male and female across civilizations and cultures; as Selene and Phoebe, Artemis, Isis and our very own Chandra and in Japan as Tsukuyomi. A heavenly body or a god, there is just one moon and it brings out the romantic in me.