We have a building full moon this coming week, and next weekend we’ll have our first full moon of the summer over Butler.

You can’t help but notice it’s a low rider as it rises in the southeast, reaches its peak in the lower portions of the southern sky by around 1 a.m., and sets in southwest less than 10 hours after it rises. It’s taking the same low path that the sun takes in early winter.

The excess moonlight will do much damage to real stargazing this week as all but the brighter stars get at least partially moon washed. So what I suggest for some night is to lie back on the ground and gaze upon the stars. No snow will go up your back this time of year.

Despite these obstacles it’s still a great experience to lie back under the stars, especially on a hilltop or somewhere in the middle of a really flat plain.

Of course, if you can get away from some of the city lights it makes the celestial show even more fabulous. You become one with the universe … OK, that’s stretching it a bit and a little cheesy for sure. All kidding aside, though, lying back under the stars can give a fresh perspective. Problems at work and school go away for a while, absorbed by the starry skies!

With a little more relaxation you can imagine yourself on a spaceship traveling through the heavens. Well, as a matter of fact, you are. Everybody and everything on this planet are aboard spaceship Earth, hurtling at tremendous speeds in all directions.

First off, spaceship Earth is always shifting around internally. In fact, all of the continents of the Earth are drifting, some up to eight inches a year.

North America is drifting westward from Europe at the pace of 2 to 3 inches a year. And, of course, we have occasional earthquakes and volcanoes.

That’s nothing compared to the movement the entire spaceship Earth experiences. Even though you can’t feel it, the Earth is spinning on its axis at a speed of more than 1,000 mph. You’d think we’d get dizzy!

Evidence to Earth’s rotation is how the stars relentlessly move together en masse toward the west and also spin around Polaris, a star shining above the North Pole. Oh, and by the way, as long as I brought up the North Pole, keep in mind that Earth’s axis between the north and south is also wobbling in a 26,000-year cycle.

We’ve only just begun, though. Along with our 1,000-mph-plus rotation speed, we’re cranking along in orbit around the sun at more than 64,000 miles an hour, or about 19 miles a second.

But you also have to get your brain around the reality that the entire solar system and our private star we call our sun are all zipping along in a huge orbit around the center of our own spiral shaped Milky Way galaxy at more than 600,000 mph. Better hope there’s not a galactic policeman minding a speed trap in our home galaxy.

Astronomers now believe that our entire Milky Way galaxy is cruising though this part of the universe at more than 1.3 million miles an hour. Have you ever thought to yourself, “I’m going nowhere”? Well, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Celestial hugging

On Monday night the near full gibbous moon smooches Saturn. It should be fabulous!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul and is author of the book, “Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and at www.adventurepublications.net.