Moonbeams for August

Since we have a full moon coming tomorrow, August 5 at 8:55 pm eastern time, I thought I'd quote from the lunar calendar.

A moon's age refers to the number of days after each new moon. The time between new moons is approximately 29.5 days. In that period, the moon passes through four phases roughly seven days apart. The full quarter phases are punctuated by the waxing crescent, waxing gibbous, waning gibbous, and waning crescent. When the moon is young, we sometimes see it cradling "the old moon in its arms." As the new moon waxes into a crescent, we can see the outline of the lunar orb that is not illuminated by the sun. Some sunlight does reach the unlit portion of the moon, but it is reflected from Earth. Cloud cover greatly affects the Earth's reflective properties, or albedo, which averages about 0.36. The moon's albedo is five times weaker than Earth's, at 0.07. Earth's albedo is still strong enough to cast light on the moon's dark side, creating the phenomenon called earthshine.

And now, science lesson over, it's time for a romantic, musical view of the moon with Carmen McRae.