Clouds covered the sky in the District for much of Saturday, but they permitted appearances by the sun at times and even allowed a glimpse of the almost-full moon, which shone from about as far away as it ever gets.
Washington, D.C
Sun is scarcely seen Saturday, but micromoon was spotted
The high temperature reached 53 degrees. That was 1 degree above Friday’s reading, and 3 degrees warmer than the District’s average high temperature for Feb. 24, which is 50 degrees.
Saturday seemed to suggest that Washington is making normal, if not especially swift, progress toward spring. More sunshine might have been asked, but atmospheric perfection is not guaranteed in the capital in late February.
A certain breeziness existed, and coincided with an evening rain shower, that may have succeeded in stamping Saturday as a slightly wintry way station on the way to warmer weather.
But the day’s greatest distinction for watchers of the skies may have been in the appearance of the moon, at a notable time, place and phase in its monthly orbit around Earth.
In the earliest hours of Saturday, the moon seemed to occupy a patch of sky that was free of clouds. It seemed almost directly above the District, beaming from so steep an angle as to require a maximum tilt of the head to catch sight of it.
In only a few hours, it would reach the phase of geometrical fullness with the maximum amount of its face illuminated by the unseen sun. But a few minutes after midnight, it seemed difficult to detect in any way that it fell short of being totally full.
What was striking, however, was how small the moon seemed. But although striking, it was not surprising. On Saturday morning, the moon was about as far as it ever gets from Earth on its monthly orbit, and distant objects appear smaller.
When it is at or near both its greatest fullness and its farthest distance, it is called a micromoon in recognition of its slightly smaller appearance.
It seemed almost like the pupil of some celestial eye with the colors reversed. Instead of the eye’s dark circle of a pupil surrounded by the brighter iris, the moon appeared something like a small, bright round window surrounded by darkness.
And it was not so far, or so small, of course, that the darker lunar seas could not be seen.