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Last night we had the “Strawberry Moon” rising over Edinburgh into layers of cloud, making a very elusive prey for moon hunters. The tribes of North America traditionally named the moons according to what that particular season would bring. In ye olden days in Europe we named June’s moon the Rose Moon.
Naming moons might seem a wee bit strange but if you think about it, that’s only because we have only one moon orbiting our planet. Jupiter currently has 93 of them and naming them has a long and torturous history all of its own. The first 4 were discovered in 1610 by Galileo, and these ones are named after the God Jupiter’s sexual partners - Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
It started getting more than a wee bit complicated after that, with astronomers wanting to name their newly discovered moons after their country, or king, or even their patrons who fronted up the dosh for their research. So rules were made to keep from starting wars and fisticuffs malarkies. Now any newly discovered moons of Jupiter must be named after either the descendants of the Roman god Jupiter/the Greeks’ Zeus or the god's (often nonconsensual) sexual partners. The names can have no current commercial, political, military, or religious connotations.
Phew, we’re lucky just to have the one to argue about then. Most commonly known as just “Moon” after the old german “Mani” or old English “Mona” the rock out there could just as easily be commonly known as Merenda (Arabic), Selene (Greek) or Bulan (Malay) and often is known simply as Luna after the latin lūna.
Whatever you want to call it, there is no denying that the moon is an extraordinary object in our sky and worthy of the awe and veneration heaped upon it by countless generations and cultures.
Meanwhile on Calton Hill last night, Summer Solstice was being celebrated by bonfires, spinning and juggling of things on fire, beating drums, hedonistic dancing and the guffaws and shrieks of mortals having a splendidly lunatic time.
Someone emailed to suggest that I should I have a wee tips payment option - for those of you who don’t want to subscribe but would like to offer something as a “Cheers mate, enjoyed that” option. So here it is.
Wonderful images Tom!
Wonderful selection of photos!