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Birthday · October 10, 2021

Full Moon Silhouettes

October 10, 2021

You share your birthday with the light of distant galaxies that has been traveling for millions of years just to arrive here, now, alongside...

Full Moon Silhouettes

A little universe, just for you

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APOD published October 10, 2021 · Video still. Credit: Mark Gee; Music: Tenderness (Dan Phillipson). A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

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Full Moon Silhouettes

Original APOD · October 10, 2021

Have you ever watched the Moon rise? The slow rise of a nearly full moon over a clear horizon can be an impressive sight. One impressive moonrise was imaged in early 2013 over Mount Victoria Lookout in Wellington, New Zealand. With detailed planning, an industrious astrophotographer placed a camera about two kilometers away and pointed it across the lookout to where the Moon would surely soon be making its nightly debut. The featured single shot sequence is unedited and shown in real time -- it is not a time lapse. People on Mount Victoria Lookout can be seen in silhouette themselves admiring the dawn of Earth's largest satellite. Seeing a moonrise yourself is not difficult: it happens every day, although only half the time at night. Each day the Moon rises about fifty minutes later than the previous day, with a full moon always rising at sunset. This Saturday, October 16, is International Observe the Moon Night, where you observe a first-quarter Moon along with other lunar enthusiasts.

Image credit: Mark Gee; Music: Tenderness (Dan Phillipson)

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