Under Desert Stars   Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo

          I went out this morning just before sunrise, telescope ready, expecting this to be the last morning of observing the waning Moon. Turns out yesterday morning was the last day, after all. The Moon was a delicate curl of bright light all of 20° above the horizon, set in a pale blue not quite sunrise sky. Sliding along the ecliptic, it had moved more to the north than down toward the horizon, but the… Sun is rising earlier and the sky was quite bright. Unfortunately that bright sky was infested with thin grey clouds that first robbed the lunar crescent of detail in the eyepiece, then stole the show as the rising sun lit them with sweeping strokes of apricot and gold. What can you do? After thinking I could make out Bailly and the western shore of the Ocean of Storms, I stepped back to take in the beauty of the sunrise and watched the silvery crescent fade into the blue, as the apricot clouds slowly turned white.