I took this picture of the moon (Luna) on the night of December 12th, 2005, from Hollywood, California using an Olympus C-755 camera. It’s the first time I attempted to capture anything in the sky using a digital camera. I think the picture came out pretty good, considering.
A childhood interest
As a small child, I remember staring at the moon. What was this strange ball of light in the sky?
I learned it was called the moon, and rotated around this planet called earth. My teacher explained to me that a full moon was bad luck, and I rejected the concept immediately. How could something so beautiful be bad? I decided that the moon, in any form, is a sign of good luck for me. And to this day that’s held true.
A full moon, especially, brings me luck and, somehow, a bit of peace.
When I was a bit older, I started reading books, and the first stories I read were Science Fiction. I clearly remember “Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert A. Heinlein, which was more about Mars, and “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”, by the same author.
Both of these novels, among others, had a tremendous impact on my early life and helped me, in many ways, formulate some of my basic viewpoints on our planet and place in the universe. Other novels, such as The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury and the entire Martian series by Edgar Rice Burroughs held my attention and fired my imagination.
| Book | Author | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Stranger in a Strange Land | Robert A. Heinlein | Mostly about Mars |
| The Moon is a Harsh Mistress | Robert A. Heinlein | The moon |
| The Martian Chronicles | Ray Bradbury | Mars |
| The Martian series | Edgar Rice Burroughs | Mars |
Apollo and after
Then came an event that ranks among the most astounding of my early life: we landed men on the moon! I watched every mission on the news every single day to see what was happening. I could name the astronauts, their ships and their missions down to the smallest detail. I built models of the lunar Lander and the Saturn V launch vehicle, and even collected the trashy little coins given out by the gas stations to attempt to cash in on the event.
In the early 1970s the Apollo space program fizzled out for lack of interest and funding. For some reason, bombs and wars were more important to our government, and space exploration wasn’t exciting enough for the public (and, I suspect, the time required from conception to completion of a space project is far longer than an election cycle. That means it’s not especially useful as a publicity tool for our esteemed politicians), so the programs withered and died.
By the time I graduated high school, the once proud program was reduced to a pitiful shuttle concept (which became an even more lame design and an insanely stupid implementation) and a mildly interesting robotic tour of the solar system.
I never lost my interest in the moon, and if I could wish upon a star, I’d wish I could visit the place. I strongly suspect there’s far more on, under and around the moon that we suspect, if we were willing to look and had the ability to understand what we saw.
From a childhood good luck sign to a first digital photograph of Luna in 2005.