Moooooon

Most people know how high latitudes affect the sun (the old--but basically true-- cliche about how it never sets in the summer, never comes up in the winter) but don't know that the moon basically does the same thing, although in reverse, since (as the linked article points out) the full moon has to be opposite the earth from the sun or it wouldn't be a full moon. So in the winter the moon hardly ever sets; in the summer it hardly ever rises. Counting forward from the year of the article, it looks like we're once again at one extreme of the moon's precession cycle, so winter 2005 in the Arctic is a year of high, brilliant, never-setting moons. The moon is currently full (actually just past full) and, combined with the high reflectivity of the snow, the nights are so bright you can almost read a book outside. The moon also hangs huge and surreal in the sky in the mornings, just above the city skyline. I should take a picture, but I never seem to have my camera when I notice it.