This was shot from Mars on 3-Oct-2007 4:20 a.m.

This was shot from Mars on 3-Oct-2007 4:20 a.m. PST. At the time the moon was almost exactly last quarter. The Moon is moving "clockwise" down.

Originally shared by Philip Plait (The Bad Astronomer)

#BAFact: In 2008, a spacecraft orbiting Mars took a picture of home.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/03/03/earth-and-moon-from-mars/

From nearly 200 million kilometers away, the Earth and Moon hang in a sea of blackness as seen from Mars. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera was aimed toward home to take this amazing, lonely, and beautiful shot.

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Moon Cocktails
Moon Cocktails

Given the occasion [1], we were trying to find cocktail(s) which are a good match for Full Moons.We didn't find any [2], so our resident mixologist Marianna Dizik came up with the following recipes. with astronomical consulting provided by yours truly.

Full Moon:
2 oz vodka
2 oz blue curacao (especially if it's blue moon)
1 dash lemon juice
1 oz Yellow Chartreuse
Serve with one round slice of Lemon

New Moon
1 oz vodka
2 oz coffee liqueur
1 oz curacao
1 dash lemon jiuce
1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse
served with a thin lemon wedge (unless it's a solar eclipse [3]) and orange peels.
When in perigee, drink 14% more of it.

Werewolf
2 oz apple brandy
3/4 oz Galliano
2 oz curacao
1 oz dark rum
cherry garnish
ice
8oz glass

Note that New Moon is same as Full Moon minus vodka, lemon juice (which constitute moonlight (see later), in "Full Moon").
Neither "Full Moon" nor "Werewolf" nor "New Moon" names appear to be taken. So we claim them now.

If you look at the difference between full moon and new moon, you see that the moonlight is 1oz vodka + 1oz orange curacao + 1/2oz Yellow Chartreuse (2oz coffee liqueur is darkness). Moonlight is sparkling, silver, and has a heavenly ring, especially over snow or light-colored granite.

As you notice, even new moon has some moonlight. That's because New Moon's minimum apparent magnitude is -2.5 (1 magnitude brighter then Sirius), and is due to the Moon being illuminated by the Earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon#cite_note-maxval-3). [4]

In other Lunar phases (Quarter, etc...), mix vodka, coffee liqueur, and curacao in proportion to to the phase. When planetshine (http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Пепельный_свет_Луны) is observed,
replace vodka with gin. For lunar eclipse replace curacao with Pomegranate juice (Pom). especially when the moon is red. For partial lunar eclipse mix Pom proportional to the eclipse magnitude.

For example,

Quarter Moon
3/2 oz vodka
1 oz coffee liqueur
1 oz blue curacao
1/2 oz curacao
1 dash lemon juice
3/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse
Serve with half of round slice of Lemon

One of the design requirements is that "Full Moon", "Werewolf", and "New Moon", and "Big Bad Wolf" together with all those *moon recipes from [2] need to form a coherent story. And indeed they all do have this orange - cherry - anise philosophy. Werewolf is "red", while "Full Moon" has a bluish
glow.
[1] see
https://plus.google.com/112065430692128821190/posts/d27aYvbzLDw
https://plus.google.com/112065430692128821190/posts/AoZNFE85MW8
[2] Primary source for us is http://www.cocktaildb.com/
[3] Full solar eclipse that is. If annular, serve with a lemon ring.[4] See http://cocktaildb.com/recipe_detail?id=3409 and http://cocktaildb.com/recipe_detail?id=1531 for alternative ideas of what Moonlight is made of.
http://www.cocktaildb.com/

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