By Lee Scott
On the morning of Jan. 12, as we were leaving Beaufort to attend an out of town event, my spouse and I spotted one of the most beautiful moon settings we had ever seen since moving here.
This occurred about a half an hour before sunrise. It was so bright it looked like a setting sun with its orange-yellow color. It lit up the entire pre-dawn sky. We marveled at the sight; once again appreciating the area we chose to live.
As we were driving, I opened the Farmer’s Almanac online site and learned that this incredible moon is called the “Wolf Moon.”
Evidently, the wolf packs would howl hungrily outside Indian villages during cold snowy nights and so the Native Americans called it the Wolf Moon.
The next evening, after we checked into our hotel and went back outside, I looked up and realized I could not see the night sky. I should have been able to see the moon along with stars because it was a clear night, but the high-rise buildings and the lights made it impossible.
Well, I decided, I might not be able to see anything, but I could figure out where the moon and stars should be located.
I opened a free app that I had downloaded on my phone, SkyView (one of the many free apps for people interested in celestial bodies). It allows me to point my phone up to the sky and tells me what is up there; even if it is not visible.
It was comforting to know that behind all that light pollution was the full moon.
A few days later, when we returned home, I stood on my back porch with the Sky View app.
I pointed the phone at a bright star and discovered it was Sirius, the Dog Star, as it is known. I then scrolled over to other stars and constellations and realized another bright light I was seeing was the
planet Jupiter.
I could eyeball the waning Gibbous moon that night and it reminded me of the Wolf Moon we had seen the previous week.
So, if by chance you were up early that morning, driving along Sea Island Parkway, and saw the Wolf Moon, there is a chance you might have heard some strange noises coming from a black and red RV.
That was us, howling at the moon.
Like the wolves, we could not help ourselves.
