Weiszbrod drives us slowly up the switchbacks of 9, 000-foot Kimball Mountain under a starry sky and a waning moon that is just past full, a bright thumb with a dirty fingernail.

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Not to mention when it was a waning moon!

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In the dark, under a starry sky and a waning moon, Todd and I drove up the side of Kimball Mountain, one of the last large peaks on the westernmost slope of the Rockies.

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But the Quadrantids should put on a decent show this year: When they peak in the early morning on January 3rd, viewers can expect to see as much as 120 shooting stars per hour, though the waning moon may wash out many of the dimmer outbursts.

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Only days earlier, the courtroom had seen humor in the question of whether jurors would understand references to a "waning" or "waxing" moon.

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Mr. Weiner, who was born in Baltimore and raised in Los Angeles from the age of 11, at first claims no great affection for the period between the waning of the Eisenhower era and the moon landing.

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Unfortunately, his mnemonic would only work in the northern hemisphere, where the moon is observed in the southern sky with the right side of the moon sunward during the waxing phase and the left side sunward during the waning phase.

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