There are many things that are quite astronomical. None more than astronomy of course. The Earth moves at a rate of about 67,000 miles per hour in it's orbit around the sun. The Earth is rotating pretty quick too, in the 24 hours it takes to return to the same view of the sun, about 1000 miles per hour. One of the most astronomical figures I know of is the length of time for the axis of our planet to point at the same spot in the sky (heavens). As our planet moves around the sun it wobbles. The axis travels around in a circle pointing and circling various constellations. This is the basis for the astrological ages that have been known about for longer than recorded history. It takes on average 2160 years to pass through one astrological age. We are presently in the age of Pisces. Twelve times that number (twelve ages) equals 25,920 years for the earth to cycle (return) to pointing at the same spot in the sky. This is a fact and in astronomy we call it "Precession". Ancient clay tablets refer to one of these cycles as a "Great Year".

The Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia, present day Iraq, based much upon this feature of astronomy and in fact recorded 500 of these cycles using numbers as large as 12,960,000. There is much that we are learning. We only came to fully appreciate that the Earth moved around the Sun, not the reverse, within the past couple hundred years.

But something that isn't too widely known is facts about our Moon.

It is waay too big to be orbiting so close to us. No other planet has such a huge satellite (moon) next to it. It is responsible for the tides highs and lows, and every emergency room worker knows that a full moon brings out a higher incidence of events that require attention.

So when I came across this following article on the internet, I stopped and gasped. I watched it and was completely taken by it with facination.

Even though this is an image compressed into a short time period, the effects cannot be discounted. Is the Moon our heart? It does pump the oceans. We know that. Just how beautiful is our Moon.

From Space Weather May 3 2007

TWO YEARS IN TWO SECONDS: No two full Moons are exactly alike. To prove it, Laurent Laveder spent the last two years taking pictures of every full Moon over his home in France, and here is the result:

http://spaceweather.com/swpod2007/02may07/laveder_512.gif

The Moon rocks and rolls, shrinks and swells, never presenting precisely the same face twice. "In the full-sized animation, you'll see 2 years condensed in only 2 seconds!" says Laveder. "Sorry for the mal de mer."

Wait a minute. Didn't they teach us in school that the same side of the Moon always faces Earth? Yes, but that's only approximately true. Because the Moon's orbit is slightly elliptical (5%) and slightly tilted (5o), we view each month's full Moon from a slightly different distance and angle. The rocking motions are called libration; because of them we can observe not just 50% but rather 59% of the Moon's surface.



http://spaceweather.com/swpod2007/02may07/laveder_512.gif