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Birthday · April 20, 2018

Moon in the Hyades

April 20, 2018

Another year older means another lap aboard a world spinning through the void at impossible speed.

Moon in the Hyades

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APOD published April 20, 2018. Credit: Catching the Light. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

Behind the image

Moon in the Hyades

Original APOD · April 20, 2018

Have you seen the Moon lately? On April 18, its waxing sunlit crescent moved through planet Earth's night across a background of stars in the Hyades. Anchored by bright star Aldebaran, the nearby, V-shaped star cluster and complete lunar orb appear in this telephoto image. The engaging skyview is actually digitally composed from a series of varying exposures. Recorded in 1/60th of a second, the shortest in the series captures the Moon's bright crescent in sharp detail. Longer exposures, ranging up to 15 seconds, capture fainter background stars as well as earthshine, visible to the eye as the earthlit lunar night side.

Image credit: Catching the Light

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