Stargazing in May: Making the most of the moon

The moon has fascinated astronomers, poets, playwrights and many others besides, writes Nigel Henbest

Do you see a face, a hare, a three-legged toad or a guy carrying a bundle of sticks? (iStock/Getty Images)

The first weekend of the month is splendidly kicked off by a full moon in our skies, with the kindly face of the “man in the moon” illuminating our late-night coronation festivities.

Although the full moon seems amazingly bright in our night sky, it’s actually a very dull object – as dark as an asphalt road surface. The moon reflects only one-tenth of the sunlight falling on its surface: the Earth’s reflectance is three times higher; while Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus reflects almost 100 per cent of the incoming light. If our companion were as shiny as Enceladus, we’d be dazzled with a moon ten times brighter.

In western tradition, the moon is the beautiful and chaste Diana, goddess of hunting. But in many parts of the world, the moon is a male deity: in Hindu mythology, it was the god Soma, who rides through the sky in a chariot pulled by white horses.