Such astronomical events seem like glimpses of the machinery of the otherwise inaudible music of the spheres. They make the ebbs and flows, crises and restorations of our lives seem entirely insignificant - perhaps because these "events" are themselves no more than coincidences, remarkable only to (indeed remarked only by) us. They point beyond themselves to scales of time vaster yet. But they're unnerving at a time when we know ourselves to be caught in processes on our own blue planet of greater scale than a human life - the climate crisis, the Anthropocene, the Sixth Extinction, but also more local human worries like the threat to democracy. Did you know that, while this past November's was the longest partial lunar eclipse, there will be a longer total lunar eclipse next November 8, which happens to be Election Day in the still United States?!
