Starship Asterisk*

Eclipse to Sunset

Explanation: September's eclipse of the Sun is documented in the 68 frames of this timelapse composite. Starting at 1pm local time a frame every 4 minutes follows the progress of the New Moon across the solar disk. Taken near the centerline of the narrow eclipse path, the series of exposures ends with a golden sunset. Balanced rock cairns in the foreground line a beach on the southern side of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, near the village of Etang-Salé. Of course, the close balance in apparent size creates drama in eclipses of the Sun by the Moon as seen from planet Earth. In an annular eclipse, the Moon's silhouette is just small enough to show the solar disk as a narrow ring-of-fire at maximum eclipse phase.

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A pile of rocks... a "pile" of Moons....

:---[===] *

Those rocks, at their perfect balance points, reflect two other rocks and their hot neighbor. I kind of wish the full moon would rise further north all the time so it wouldn't be blocked by trees in my southern view.

Guess that wish would affect our balance more than I know.

Scientists say that the moon stabilizes the rotation of the Earth, but what would Earth's rotation be like if the Moon was in a polar orbit? It seems very convenient and unlikely that the moon would have, after a planet crashed into Earth, ended up in an orbit so aligned with the ecliptic.
And will the moon continue to stabilize the Earth's rotation for as long as Earth lasts?

FLPhotoCatcher wrote:Scientists say that the moon stabilizes the rotation of the Earth, but what would Earth's rotation be like if the Moon was in a polar orbit? It seems very convenient and unlikely that the moon would have, after a planet crashed into Earth, ended up in an orbit so aligned with the ecliptic.
And will the moon continue to stabilize the Earth's rotation for as long as Earth lasts?

The Moon does not stabilize Earth's rotation. It stabilizes its axial tilt.

Chris Peterson wrote:

FLPhotoCatcher wrote:Scientists say that the moon stabilizes the rotation of the Earth, but what would Earth's rotation be like if the Moon was in a polar orbit? It seems very convenient and unlikely that the moon would have, after a planet crashed into Earth, ended up in an orbit so aligned with the ecliptic.
And will the moon continue to stabilize the Earth's rotation for as long as Earth lasts?

The Moon does not stabilize Earth's rotation. It stabilizes its axial tilt.

Right, that's what I meant.

"... follow's the progress of..."
They're putting apostrophes in verbs now ?