APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

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APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by APOD Robot » Sun Mar 20, 2011 4:11 am

Image Parthenon Moon

Explanation: Did you see the Full Moon last night? Near the horizon, the lunar orb may have seemed to loom large, swollen in appearance by the famous Moon illusion. But the Full Moon really was a large Full Moon last night, reaching its exact full phase within an hour of lunar perigee, the point in the Moon's elliptical orbit closest to planet Earth. A similar near perigee Full Moon last occured on December 12, 2008. The difference in the Moon's apparent size as it moves from perigee to apogee, its farthest point from Earth, is about 14 percent. Of course, a nearly Full Moon will rise again tonight, lighting the skies on the date of the Equinox or equal night. The Full Moon also looms large in this well-planned, telescopic lunar portrait. Captured earlier this year, the rising lunar orb is dramatically matched to the 2,500 year old Parthenon, in Athens, Greece.

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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by owlice » Sun Mar 20, 2011 6:38 am

A lovely image!!!

More moon images are here: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=23185
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Rdk

Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by Rdk » Sun Mar 20, 2011 6:51 am

I gather that this "photo" is a hoax?

Bartsmom

Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by Bartsmom » Sun Mar 20, 2011 6:53 am

Great picture! I'm not sure about this, but it looks like there's a star or planet at about the 4 o'clock position right on the edge of the Moon. Cool!

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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by owlice » Sun Mar 20, 2011 7:16 am

Rdk wrote:I gather that this "photo" is a hoax?
You gather incorrectly. The astrophotographer is well-known for his meticulous planning and excellent images.
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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by BMAONE23 » Sun Mar 20, 2011 8:41 am

Rdk wrote:I gather that this "photo" is a hoax?
What would lead you to believe it to be a Hoax????


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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by Ayiomamitis » Sun Mar 20, 2011 11:03 am

Rdk wrote:I gather that this "photo" is a hoax?
I apologize for being the bearer of bad news but it is a single-exposure effort and which included a lot of a priori planning.

I discuss the method and analysis behind such photos here: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... lf#p142368 (see bottom of the thread).

Anthony.

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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by Ayiomamitis » Sun Mar 20, 2011 11:06 am

Bartsmom wrote:Great picture! I'm not sure about this, but it looks like there's a star or planet at about the 4 o'clock position right on the edge of the Moon. Cool!
In fact, it is a hot pixel and much too close to the lunar limb for intervention. To this end, I purposely did not remove it in the event someone noticed the modified pixel(s) in the area and thereby cast doubt on the complete result.

Anthony.

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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by Ayiomamitis » Sun Mar 20, 2011 11:10 am

Somehow my login ID did not appear in the previous two replies.

Anthony.
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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by orin stepanek » Sun Mar 20, 2011 11:30 am

Beautiful work Anthony! 8-)
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by biddie67 » Sun Mar 20, 2011 12:25 pm

Wow!! Spectacular photo!!

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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by moonstruck » Sun Mar 20, 2011 2:09 pm

Very nicely done Anthony.

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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by canopia » Sun Mar 20, 2011 3:37 pm

I like these alignment photos as a whole experience; planning, calculation and execution. Really nice, thank you Anthony.

Tunç Tezel

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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by Blacky » Sun Mar 20, 2011 10:34 pm

This must be a fake, because the moon is squeezed on the photo. In reality the moon ist almost perfectly circular.

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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by owlice » Sun Mar 20, 2011 10:44 pm

A closed mouth gathers no foot.

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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by Ayiomamitis » Mon Mar 21, 2011 12:33 am

Blacky wrote:This must be a fake, because the moon is squeezed on the photo. In reality the moon ist almost perfectly circular.
Both the moon and sun are deformed when near the horizon due to thermal currents. This is especially true when shooting with intervening water between the observer/photographer and the distant background.

Out of curiosity I checked the full moon in my photo and it has a width of 385 pixels and a height of 362 pixels. As a result, there is a very slight deformation of about 5% but this nothing compared to other examples where we have much greater distortions.

You have my word the photo is NOT fake!

Anthony.
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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by Ayiomamitis » Mon Mar 21, 2011 12:35 am

canopia wrote:I like these alignment photos as a whole experience; planning, calculation and execution. Really nice, thank you Anthony.

Tunç Tezel
My thanks to Tunc et al for the kind words!

Judging by the emails I have received, this is one very popular result. :D

Anthony.
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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by owlice » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:15 am

How an astrophotographer knows he has a stupendously spectacular picture: some think the image is fake!

Anthony, congratulations on your stupendously spectacular picture!!
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observer

Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by observer » Mon Mar 21, 2011 6:35 am

occurred

Alberto Fernandez

Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by Alberto Fernandez » Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:56 am

A beautiful image! If anything, to try and improve it you should have touched the Parthenon and not the Moon! Those cranes there take part of the beauty away--even if it´s only an infinitesimal part!! :twisted:

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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by Ayiomamitis » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:14 am

Alberto Fernandez wrote:A beautiful image! If anything, to try and improve it you should have touched the Parthenon and not the Moon! Those cranes there take part of the beauty away--even if it´s only an infinitesimal part!! :twisted:
Alberto,

The cranes and scaffolding has been in place for about ten years now due to on-going restoration project to fix the joists between the marble sections. When the Parthenon was built, wood in the form of a "+" was used to ensure a tight fit between the marble sections. With the passage of time, the wood obviously rotted and endangered the integrity of the Parthenon itself.

In the early 1900's, a restoration project involving the replacement of the wood joists to metal ones was undertaken. As you can imagine, over the next century, the metal not only began to rust but the rust itself was starting to accumulate on the marble, thus causing further damage.

About ten years ago, yet another restoration project was started for the replacement of the rusted metal joists as well as cleaning (or removal) of the rust from the marble. I may be mistaken but I think titanium is now being used to replace the metal joists and which not only does not rust but is quite strong (vis a vis no new restoration projects for the immediate future thereafter).

Unfortunately, the latest restoration project was scheduled to be complete by the summer of 2004 and the start of 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games. Regrettably, this target was not met and in spite of the fact we have also had the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games and we are a year away from the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games.

As you can see, the restoration project is taking longer than what it took to build the Parthenon itself. Some of the delay is due to the fact that marble is used to reconstruct some of the missing pieces while the cleaning project itself using special lasers for dust removal has been extended.

It would have been very easy to remove the cranes and scaffolding digitally within Photoshop BUT then I would be opening up a huge can of worms since one can easily extrapolate that not only did I digitally fix (or modify) the Parthenon itself but I also conveniently added a full moon on top to produce the final result. Just to give you an idea, I purposely did not remove a hot pixel very close to the lunar limb (lower right quadrant) so as not to leave the slightest impression of any sort of montage.

There is no question a number of my photos involving the Parthenon and the rising Sun/Moon will have to be revisited in the future once the restoration work is complete and all of the cranes and scaffolding are removed. Here is another example which was mitigated by the restoration equipment: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090621.html (I have many other similar examples in my archives).

Anyway, my sincere thanks for the kind words in relation to the final result!

Anthony.
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Re: APOD: Parthenon Moon (2011 Mar 20)

Post by Ayiomamitis » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:16 am

owlice wrote:How an astrophotographer knows he has a stupendously spectacular picture: some think the image is fake!

Anthony, congratulations on your stupendously spectacular picture!!
Hi owlice,

I have had some incredibly successful NASA APOD's in the past but this particular result has pulverized all of them to pieces. The reception and interest is truly beyond belief.

My thanks for your kind words and incessant support!

Anthony.
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