Join the Q: Stare at the Moon All Day
Created | Updated Feb 21, 2016
Stare at the Moon all Day
As well as being a fan of the letter Q, and the many things that start with that letter (most notably the band Queen) I've also long admired the Moon. I've read about the mythology inspired by it, and there is a wealth of information in the Edited Guide about the science of it that I have enjoyed reading. From Lunar Phases to the Far Side of the Moon via the tides, Full Moon names, Supermoons and Lunar Eclipses, there is even an Entry about Moonbows. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy of course doesn't limit itself to Earth, so there are Entries about the Diversity of Moons and Neptune's Moons in particular.
Another thing I pay particular attention to is mentions of the Moon in Queen songs. The song 'Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)' by Freddie Mercury includes the words 'The same moon shines... for both of us and time is but a paper moon – dream on' – just perfect for long distance relationships such as mine was. From John Deacon's song 'You and I', 'we'll go walking in the moonlight' – very romantic. 
The title of this instalment of Join the Q comes from the song 'Long Away' – Brian May is 'Lonely as a whisper on a star chase' and wants to 'stare at the moon all day'.
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Speaking of staring at the moon all day, in recent years I have become more interested in photography, and one of the best challenges I enjoy is trying to photograph the Moon. My first attempts were not very successful at all, because I wasn't sure what mode to put my camera in, so the results were very wobbly pictures of the bright moonlight. Strangely fascinating images, but not what I had hoped for. The next attempts, using a mini tripod on my window ledge to reduce shakiness, were a bit better, but the moonlight was still too bright in contrast with the darkness of the night, so it still wasn't quite what I was looking for, although again the images are fascinating, with a haze of softer light surrounding the bright Moon. Photographing the Moon in the day was more successful, as the contrast in the lighting wasn't so stark, so more detail became visible in the pictures.
The best success with Moon photography that I have had was very serendipitous. I took my bridge camera to a photography lesson the other week and the instructor put it into a mode for taking photos in a studio, so I had fun photographing the 'hypercube' cufflinks my partner had given me one Christmas. The sun had set by the time the lesson was finished, and I saw the Moon when I went outside. I took a photo just for fun, forgetting that the camera wasn't in the mode I usually used, and the result was surprisingly impressive. The exposure time had been shortened, so only a bit of light reached my camera from the Moon, but that was just enough light to provide fantastic detail in the picture. Now I can understand even more the temptation that Brian May felt to 'stare at the moon all day'!
