Word Power

Whether you’re writing poems or building rockets, this lunar vocabulary is out of this world

BY Linda Besner

1. empyrean – A: based on science. B: crescent-shaped. C: concerning the sky or heaven.

2. selenography – A: study of tides. B: lunar mapping. C: traces left by passing asteroids.

3. moonstruck – A: irritable. B: distracted by romantic love. C: experiencing bad luck.

4. perigee – A: lunar mountain. B: poem addressed to the moon. C: closest point to Earth in the moon’s orbit.

5. luminary – A: unit of moonlight. B: light-giving body. C: object of worship.

6. EMU – A: extravehicular mobility unit. B: Earth-moon unicolony. C: extraterrestrial material unknown.

7. gloaming – A: dusk. B: being driven mad by lunar influences. C: dark side of the moon.

8. moon cake – A: pellet of silicon dioxide in the moon’s crust.

B: thick stage make-up. C: pastry eaten during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.

9. waxing – A: decreasing in size or intensity. B: turning yellow. C: increasing in size or intensity.

10. omen – A: red-coloured moon. B: solemn oath. C: event interpreted as predicting good or evil.

11. lustre – A: gentle radiance. B: fine dust. C: turning of the tide.

12. soporific – A: blinding. B: serene. C: sleep-inducing.

13. gibbous – A: with more than a half-circle but not a full circle illuminated. B: on a monthly basis. C: hard as rock.

14. deity – A: unit of gravity. B: god or goddess. C: synchronous rotation of two astronomical bodies.

15. earthshine – A: sunlight reflected from Earth onto the moon. B: alcohol brewed on the moon. C: moon sighting during daytime.