Brits In Crete :: Greece Moon Gazing

Phases of the Moon 2010

"Crete Through the Telescope "

Moon gaze for more than 300 nights a year. One of the many advantages of ex-patriate living in the Greek Island of Crete where the majority of night skies are crystal clear .
Crete has little night sky light pollution.

A Touch of Historical Background - Moon in Greek Mythology

Historically, the monthly cycle of the Moon as compared to the annual cycle of the Sun's path has been linked to the menstrual cycle of women down through the centuries. This is exemplified in Greek mythology with the famed Greek Goddesses you may know as Phoebe and Selene. Later, the Roman equivalents were named Luna and Diana. In the early 1300's in Southern Europe, the cult figure of Madonna Oriente appeared.

Yet in much earlier ages including Ancient Crete and other Mediterranean Basin civilizations there were many male Lunar deities. This was the case in the Minoan period when the half man, half bull "Minotaur" was revered by the peoples of those days on Crete. Also in Ancient Greece can be found the origins of Werewolf.
Werewolves also known as lycanthropes from the Greek λυκάνθρωπος, λύκος (wolf) and άνθρωπος (human, man), are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to behave in a wolf-like manner. This later led in more modern times to the labelling of people who seem to behave erraticaly around the time of a Full Moon to be likened to a Werewolf.
Curiously, the Moon's impact on Latin speaking earthly inhabitants led to words such as "lunacy", "lunatic", and "loony", derived from 'Luna'. These folkloric words point to the Full Moon also, as being the cause of periodic insanity.

Share with Us Your Classic Pictures of the Moon

Please send us your classic views of Crete at night and of the night sky. You retain the copyright and give Brits in Crete the right to publish the picture. Send in .jpg format, 300 width x 225 height, if possible and no larger than 60K file size. Send one or a collection of visuals or a video to info at britsincrete dot net.
We welcome visual shots -- by professionals or amateur photographers alike, as seen through the telescopic lens.

Eclipses During 2010

* January 15: Annual Solar Eclipse Partial views from Greece early in the Eclipse for a short time
* June 26: Partial Lunar Eclipse (not viewable in Europe, only in Pacific and Eastern Australia)
* July 11: Total Solar Eclipse (not viewable anywhere except in South Pacific)
* Dec 21: Total Lunar Eclipse (Not visible in Greece, ONLY in North America and other places)

Phases of the Moon: 2010

Times in Universal Time (UT = GMT, Greenwich Mean Time)
Crete is on EET, which is UT/GMT+2hrs in Wintertime and UT/GMT+3 in Summertime

Notes: P=Partial Eclipse, T=Total Eclipse A= Annual Solar Eclipse
In Greek: Moon = φεγγάρι (feng-gari) or σελήνη (seleenee), full moon = πανσέληνος (panseleenos)

Brits in Crete has SPECIAL PERMISSION of NASA for this re-publishing of information. Algorithms used in predicting the phases of the Moon as well as eclipses are based on Jean Meeus' Astronomical Algorithms (Willmann-Bell, Inc., Richmond, 1991). All calculations are by Fred Espenak, GSFC Planetary Systems Laboratory and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy. The Planetary Systems Laboratory is located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.

See the total lunar eclipse of February 20, 2008

Postscript: The next BLUE MOON in the heavens will take place on Full Moon on August 31, 2012.

Check here for the Moon gazing Calendar of Crete and Greece's Moon Phases in 2011