What is there to look forward to this moonth?
The waxing is often a reminder that something anticipated is about to happen.
This month is survival. It is far too hot in Abu Dhabi to do much else?
The shadows from the lamps are exactly under the lamps.
Abu Dhabi is on the Tropic of Cancer, the furthest from the equator where the midday sun passes exactly overhead.
The deck chairs are empty - Noel Coward would say there can't be any mad dogs or englishmen here
Yet there is a couple of people on the tennis court. Getting some stamina training for Wimbledon maybe (photo was taken 21st of last moonth)
Next new moon is the start of Ramadan. Happily we are allowed to slow down under the August sun this year.
In December the new moon will remind us that there is a Lunar Eclipse; from November to April we will start watching again at each New Moon to see the fastest thing in the sky rush up from the West past Venus and then on past Jupiter. Each month the gap between Venus and Jupiter will shrink, till there is a Conjunction in March.
How would you know which of all those dots is Venus?
The brightest night sky objects are
1 the moon
2 Venus
3 Jupiter;
Note that Venus and Jupiter are brighter than any star; that they are on the line taken by the moon makes them very easy to find.
In Abu Dhabi, the sky is hazy enough that these three are often the only objects that can be seen.
