Our closest celestial neighbour has kept us company for at least four billion years and has entertained our imagination in a variety of ways. It certainly has been involved in our maturation as a species with man's first step on a body beyond our planet during the latter part of the twentienth century and will, inevitably, be our first stop prior to any sort of manned travel to a further celestial body such as Mars. The moon has been a great source of education about our own planet's evolutionary history; it has entertained many inquisitive minds from earlier cultures and generations about the universe in general and man's role in particular; it has enriched the minds of young children taking their first look through a telescope and continues to impact our lives in ways we may or may not readily recognize including tidal forces and various natural rhythms and cycles.

Note: A full moon near the horizon which is also rising is one of the most stunning sights one can experience involving our closest neighbour, for the full moon will assume a wide variety of colours due to atmospheric scattering and with the observer privy to various shades of red, orange, yellow and brown during this celestial metamorphosis. The image below is particularly interesting, for unusually steady skies when the moon was less than 6.5 degrees above the horizon provided the opportunity to capture this golden full moon with relatively good clarity and detail. Since the sun was only three degrees below the horizon, darkness had not set and the sky was a rich blue colour at the time of the exposure which added to the overall ambience.