perilous beauty [Was: Crescent Moon Alert]

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/5/2008 02:26 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>What does "perilous beauty" mean?

Thanks for asking, Wilson.  I spent too much time on
research.  peri-lous, as in "perihelion", "1. That point in the orbit
of a planet, comet, or other heavenly body, at which it is nearest to
the sun. Opp. to aphelion."?  Here, the moon is coming close to the
Pleiades -- or vice versa.  Perhaps they meant to coin "peri-luneous"?

[BTW, "luneous" is not in OED2, but perhaps should be.  At least, a
type of rock?]

Joel


>-Wilson
>
>On Sat, Apr 5, 2008 at 8:22 AM, David A. Daniel <dad at pokerwiz.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> >  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >  Poster:       "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
> >  Subject:      FW: Crescent Moon Alert
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >  Sorry folks. I get this stuff from NASA and just could not
> resist forwarding
> >  it on to the list, given recent discussions...
> >
> >  DAD
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >   _____
> >
> >  From: NASA Science News [mailto:snglist at snglist.msfc.nasa.gov]
> >  Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 3:28 PM
> >  To: NASA Science News
> >  Subject: Crescent Moon Alert
> >
> >
> >
> >  NASA Science News for April 4, 2008
> >
> >  A crescent moon of perilous beauty is about to appear in the evening sky.
> >  The best night to look is Tuesday, April 8th, when the moon joins the
> >  Pleiades star cluster for a must-see conjunction.
> >
> >  FULL STORY at
> >
> >  http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/04apr_crescentmoon.htm?list159588
> >
> >  Check out our RSS feed at http://science.nasa.gov/rss.xml!
> >
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>
>
>--
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>-----
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>
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