March '24.. It's All About The Lighting

 Surprise Idaho quake

Monster sunspot..but, no blast

Yet

March 2024 - On & Off Earth

My oldest and dearest friend in Louisa, now sadly departed, was both a master of appliance repair and photography. Denny Ray could, often, help you fix your ailing appliance over the phone or get out his camera and capture you at your best in a portrait. From early in our friendship and for years to come he reminded me, “it’s all about the lighting”. March, perhaps more than any other month, is all about the lighting.

While Denny and other good photographers control the lighting in their photos that is not an option we have wandering about on the planet. The sun, direct by day and indirect, reflected off the moon, in the evening is what we get. The intervening factors are the clouds, that cover about half our planet at all times (a bit of a shock to the first astronauts) and the time of day we venture out.

The ‘golden’ hour of light, near sunrise and sunset, makes for a far different adventure outside than a midday walk with the sun high overhead. The stark shadows cast on a sunny day shorten and add a harshness to the view. Clouds soften the scene, increasing the depth of field, letting us see farther and more clearly into any grove of trees. During March, the view will change even more, the sepia tones of winter shifting to the mallow green of baby leaves bursting out to catch the ever increasing sunlight.

Even as we gain more than two minutes of daylight every day of the month and the sun angle steepens noticeably, the biggest lighting change in March occurs on the 10th when we ‘Spring Ahead’ into Daylight Saving Time. It instantly becomes easier to sleep in and easier to go for an evening wander. And, it just begins to feel more like summer.

Earth reaches a momentary equilibrium with the sun directly over the equator at 11:06pm on the 19th: the Spring or Vernal Equinox. (The Leap Day in February moved the equinox up a day.) The crescent moon does its monthly pass of Jupiter on the 13th; also the day our view of the sun changes from Aquarius to Pisces. The Morning Star, Venus, continues to pull away from Earth sinking lower and lower into the pre-dawn sky.

Our moon spends half the year above the plane of Earth’s orbit, half below. That means, twice a year it lines up with us. That lining up allows eclipses to happen. The Full Worm moon will slide through the edge of Earth’s shadow early on the 25th but will be hard to even notice and not worth getting up at 3am to view.

Two-ish weeks later, April 8th, the New moon will not only line up with the sun and Earth but will be as close to Earth as it gets all year. That alignment will allow the moon to cast a huge shadow on our planet coming ashore at Mazatlan on the west coast of Mexico and 2 1/2 hours later exiting the Canadian Maritimes. At the peak, Virginia will see about 85% of the sun covered. That means: SAFE SOLAR EYE PROTECTION WILL BE REQUIRED, for the entire event here!! Find or purchase eclipse shades NOW, before the real craziness begins. This may come up again next month. Next solar eclipse in USA: 2044.

On a bit of a sad closing note, Annette Hayes, the bright light who was the Queen of Louisa pickleball, passed away last week. But, her joy and energy shine on, in all of us that she taught and brought into the game. We dink on in her memory and honor.

Randy Holladay

oldrockguy@gmail.com

Lemon blossoms