Moon phases

And dates. I know you are curious…

Mar 14, 2026

…I know you are, because…well, just because.

People at large in the Modern World that we all know and love so well don’t spend a lot of time looking at the moon. If we don’t get up early and find the Moon up and about on her errands also, we don’t give her a second thought.

But Iphigenia, as far into the future as it is—about 3175, depending—has a much closer connection to the natural world, and to night and the stars, than we do. With two moons, both faster in their orbits than ours, the activity overhead is much busier. Artume is smaller than Luna, but much closer, and has a two-week orbital period, and Neith is much closer still, and has an orbital period of a little over three and a half days. When Neith is up, she is in a different phase when she sets than when she rises.

So I have, finally, gotten a good home-brewed spreadsheet for a perpetual calendar. There are extra challenges to it…a different length of year, a different length of day, and a different length—my hand to Bob—of second.

Note the smooth transitions in the Artume columns; note the jagged, stuttering in the Neith columns. Regardless, you can see broadly intertwining patterns between the two. Rising, transiting, setting: you could almost do astrology with this. (Don’t tempt me!) (All right, I’m tempted.) Notable features are in the right-hand column. This is a bit of a boring stretch, since it is set during The Thessaly Affair, but it can include eclipses and other such phenomena—

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Mahna Mahna
Do doo do-do-do
Mahna Mahna
Do do-do do

The effect of two double full moons, even if each is slightly dimmer than our own, is doubtless extraordinary, and transist of Neith over Artume must be breathtaking; Artume is a pale yellow over much of her face, and heavily cratered. Neith, badly battered, is fawn, burgundy, brown, and beige, and the cracking texture on the surface is visible to the naked eye if you look carefully.

Yes, I convert dates as well…