The Moon and Venus

 

The Moon and Venus, 16 August 2020, 3 am, Kurikkalampi (Puruvesi, Saimaa). Foto Laila Alanen.

Today is moving day from the forest retreat. I haven't visited a cinema since the Tampere Film Festival in early March. Instead, I have learned to navigate in streaming services and visited for the first time an online film festival: the Midnight Sun Film Festival in mid-June.

During my quarantine I have observed wonderful light spectacles in the sky. In mid-March, soon after the declaration of the state of emergency, I saw Northern Lights for the first time.

Today in the early morning hours I saw the Moon and Venus shining brightly on the Northern Sky. At first I thought that it must be the Comet Neowise that emerged in July. It only appears every 6800 years.

In the past, comets and other bright celestial bodies were given astrological, mythological and religious meanings. Myths surround Halley's Comet which appears every 75 years. One of the most amusing myths claims that the comet was excommunicated by the Pope (not true). It has also been speculated that Halley's Comet was the Star of Bethlehem, even though the chronology is not quite accurate. Another legendary comet had appeared in the recent past: Caesar's Comet in 44 BC, in the year of the dictator's assassination. Following an interim period of triumvirates, Augustus became the first Roman emperor, and the Roman Empire started.

I hope that Comet Neowise is a good omen in a period of exceptional challenges, including saving life on Earth. This year has been unique in many ways. The cinema celebrates its 125th anniversary, but never have cinemas closed globally before. This is the year of a wake-up call in global responsibility. This is also the year of an unprecedented display of rapid and coordinated global action.