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Birthday · October 14, 2022

The Falcon and the Hunter's Moon

October 14, 2022

Somewhere above you, light is arriving from places so distant their names feel like poetry.

The Falcon and the Hunter's Moon

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APOD published October 14, 2022. Credit: Michael Seeley. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

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The Falcon and the Hunter's Moon

Original APOD · October 14, 2022

The Full Moon of October 9th was the second Full Moon after the northern hemisphere autumnal equinox, traditionally called the Hunter's Moon. According to lore, the name is a fitting one because this Full Moon lights the night during a time for hunting in preparation for the coming winter months. In this snapshot, a nearly full Hunter's Moon was captured just after sunset on October 8, rising in skies over Florida's Space Coast. Rising from planet Earth a Falcon 9 rocket pierces the bright lunar disk from the photographer's vantage point. Ripples and fringes along the edge of the lunar disk appear as supersonic shock waves generated by the rocket's passage change the atmosphere's index of refraction.

Image credit: Michael Seeley

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