Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889–1977) is considered one of the first movie stars ever and made film history with his acting and his works. He is also one of the few artists who managed the transition from silent films to sound films.
Because of using archetypal imagery and symbols in his films, it is natural that the moon could also play a part somewhere. We found four references:
The full moon in May is a special day for many Buddhists, as the Vesak day is celebrated worldwide. According to tradition, Buddha was born on full moon in May, later became enlightened and also passed away on this day. This is how this day is honoured in countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and also in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and many more. And above all of this, the full moon shines.
Everyone knows that the sun is much larger than the moon and much further away from earth. In this very context lies a fascinating fact: both celestial bodies appear to be of similar size on the firmament, when observed from earth. Which implies that the sun has to be as many times bigger than the moon, as it is further away from the earth than the moon from the earth …
Ian Fleming’s fictitious secret agent 007, of the British Secret Service MI6, has been fighting the villains of this world on screen for over 50 years, accompanied by technical knick-knacks, all sorts of explosions and always beautiful women. There are many night scenes and one should assume that the Moon should be included quite frequently … far from it! We were only able to spot one Bond flic where the full moon can be seen: MOONRAKER from 1979 – and only at the beginning and the end of the movie.
There are movies that live on Mount Olympus. The movie “It’s a wonderful life” by Frank Capra from 1946, belongs to them. However, at the time of the release, shortly before Christmas of the aforementioned year, this had not been the case yet. Commercially, this movie was a flop and did not turn into a cult movie until decades later. Today, the story about George Bailey (played by James Stewart), who does many good deeds in a small American town, quarrels with his destiny on Christmas Eve and eventually, through meeting an unconventional angel, learns to recognise the value of life, is considered to be one of the best movies in motion picture history.
The »sunfish« is called »moonfish« in many languages. It is the biggest and heaviest bony fish in the world, weighing up to 2,500 kg and showing off up to 3 m length and 4 m height! It can grow over 100 years old. Its Latin name »mola mola« derives from its shape, which reminds of a »millstone«, but apparently, also the Moon was the force behind the naming:
Sleepwalking is the term for a sleep disorder where the person concerned will move to an upright position in bed, or get up and walk around without waking up. It is also referred to as somnambulism, which derives from lat. »somnus« = sleep and »ambulare« = to wander. A further outdated term is »lunatism« and stems from the former belief that the light of the full moon coaxes the sleeper into leaving the bed. This misconception is scientifically disproved: sleepwalking takes place outside the lunar cycle.
We have compared the amount of visitors from our full moon pages with the curve of an electrocardiogram (ECG) and came across an astonishing similarity. It almost appears as if the attention that we humans give to full moon would have its own heartbeat …
It is obvious that the interest in full moon can be linked to its rhythm. The average duration of a moon month is approx. 29.5 days, so a little bit more than four weeks and a little bit less than one calendar month. One can safely say, a lot of people are paying attention to the moon at full moon and clearly a lot less so during the other moon phases.
This is about how to differentiate the waxing moon from the waning moon in the sky. »Waxing« is known to be the lunar phase between the new moon and the full moon (meaning the time when the crescent increases in size), whereas »waning« is known to be the lunar phase between the full moon and the new moon (the time when the crescent decreases in size). In order to remember on which side the curve is, here are some neat mnemonics.
When the sun light is reflected and diffracted in fine water droplets in the air, a rainbow arises. So what happens if the same occurs in the moon light, is there also going to be a rainbow? Well, we find the idea of a moon rainbow quite fascinating …
Let’s take a short detour into physics. What we recognise in a rainbow as an arched bow made of colourful light, are the spectral colours that develop when the “white” sunlight fans out in its different wavelenghts, which we perceive in different colours. This decomposition does also take place, when the light is sent through a glass prism.
When Neil Armstrong became the first human being that set foot on the moon within the scope of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, he said the famous words »That’s one small step for (a) man … one … giant leap for mankind« and hence erected a monument for this historic move. Rarely in history, did the success of human research and development work, condense so impressively in just one moment.