Mystery Solved – Day 982

Wildfire Sunset #1 – Photo: L. Weikel

Mystery Solved

It didn’t take long for me to figure out why the moon was so uncharacteristically orange past midnight last night.  All I had to do was read the Air Quality Alert from The Weather Channel this morning. Mystery solved.

Indeed, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission issued a “code orange” air quality alert for tomorrow, too. I know they weren’t referring to the shade of the moon last night (and tonight), nor the extremely Tatooine-like appearance of the sun as it set tonight.

Welcome to proof of how we’re all related on this planet. Smoke from the wildfires in Canada and the western states continues to take its toll across the United States.

No Filter, No Edits

The photos I’m including in tonight’s post are exactly the way the sun appeared to my naked eye, although I must admit, the ring around it was not as obvious, since I didn’t gaze directly at and into the sun.

And the photo at the end of this post is of the moon tonight, only a few minutes ago. She’s an even darker shade of orange than last night.

I guess the only thing we can do at this moment (besides watch Congress continue to screw around and fail us all by sabotaging the infrastructure bill that could finally start to do something substantive about addressing climate change) is enjoy the beauty of the sunrises and sunsets.

Take pretty photos of the end days. Or if not the end days, the last days in which it is safe for us to spend time outside without compromising our respiratory systems.

I’m worried. And angry. No mystery there.

(T-129)