Starship Asterisk*

It's a lovely video. When I see it, though, I'm reminded of the enormous differences between the Earth and the Moon. The Earth is relatively large, wonderfully colorful, and brimming with life. The Moon is much smaller, gray in color, dry, airless and dead. It is as if it had been "sucked dry" by the interaction with the Earth (although there are of course so many other explanations for the differences between the Earth and the Moon).

[float=left][img2]http://www.waid-observatory.com/images/ngc/NGC4631-2009-06-24-715.jpg[/img2][c][size=85]Copyright: Donald Waid[/size][/c][/float]The Earth-Moon pair makes me think of galaxies NGC 4631 and NGC 4627. NGC 4631 is large, brilliant, marvellously colorful and brimming with star formation. NGC 4627 is smallish, monocolored and "dead" when it comes to forming new stars.

Ann

this video is the best and most beautiful video i've seen here. great job!

Well... that would seem to be a wonderfully [s]crazy[/s] Zany movie :!: :yes: :clap: :lol2:

[float=right][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N8wkVA4_8s[/youtube][/float][quote="DavidLeodis"][quote="FloridaMike"]

I guess a video of moonrise from the equator would blow northern and southern hemispheric minds.[/quote]
I wonder how a Moon rise does look at the Equator? Does it just rise and subsequently fall vertically?[/quote]
More or less. (Which is basically the way
I picture a Moon rise/set to first order anyhow.)

[quote="FloridaMike"]I guess a video of moonrise from the equator would blow northern and southern hemispheric minds.[/quote]

I wonder how a Moon rise does look at the Equator? Does it just rise and subsequently fall vertically? I'm having trouble trying to picture what it does at the Equator in view that it appears to move right to left when viewed in Earth's southern hemisphere but left to right in the northern hemisphere.

[url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/01/31/moon_rise_mark_gee_video_of_silhouettes_against_the_rising_moon.html][size=110][b][i]Silhouettes and Moonrise in Real Time[/i][/b][/size][/url]
Slate Blogs | Bad Astronomy | Phil Plait | 2013 Jan 31

[url=http://www.universetoday.com/99691/][size=110][b][i]Watch a Magical Moonrise[/i][/b][/size][/url]
Universe Today | Nancy Atkinson | 2013 Jan 31

[quote="DavidLeodis"]Excellent video. :)

It was a bit surprising to me seeing just how much the Moon moves (relative to our view) in such a short period. Also, though I know from seeing it that the moon rises later each day, if I was asked for a quick guess (with no time to do any mental arithmatic) I would have guessed much less than 50 minutes. Seeing the Moon go through its phases is for me always an awesome sight, particularly so its thin crescents and Full Moon ones.[/quote]
I love watching the Moon every evening, night, or morning, depending on her phase (taking two or three nights off for the mysterious new Moon). I'm fascinated by her movements from west to east against the stars of the zodiac, and how she transits through more northerly and southerly paths during her different phases over the different seasons of the year. And of course how her illuminated appearance changes from one night to the next. I'm starting to keep track of her north and south movements relative to the ecliptic, and to notice how closely she passes by planets and stars that are near to the ecliptic. Guy Ottewell's [i]Astronomical Calendar[/i] is very helpful in this regard.

Our sister planet is endlessly fascinating!

By the way, the Moon rises 50 minutes later each day [u][i]on average[/i][/u] (everything about the Moon is mutable). When the ecliptic rises steeply from the eastern horizon, e.g. during full Moons near the fall equinox, she rises only about 30 minutes later each day. Thus we have bright moonlight before the end of twilight for more evenings than usual after the full Moons during autumn, very helpful to farmers harvesting their fields, at least before the invention of combines equipped with racks of stadium lights. Conversely, when the ecliptic follows a more shallow path relative to the eastern horizon, e.g. during full Moons near the spring equinox, the situation is reversed and the Moon rises about 70 minutes later each day.

Excellent video. :)

It was a bit surprising to me seeing just how much the Moon moves (relative to our view) in such a short period. Also, though I know from seeing it that the moon rises later each day, if I was asked for a quick guess (with no time to do any mental arithmatic) I would have guessed much less than 50 minutes. Seeing the Moon go through its phases is for me always an awesome sight, particularly so its thin crescents and Full Moon ones.

Thank you very much, Anthony, that was a beautifully clear explanation and, as with all good teaching, is so obvious once set out clearly.

Margarita

[quote="tbrander"]The moon truly is a "...faithful witness in the skies..." (Ps 89:37)[/quote]
I agree. Nice reference.

Anthony, I enjoyed your answer to Margarita's question.

[quote="Anthony Barreiro"]I was resisting the impulse to write one of those tedious "this is not up to apod's usual standards" comments. [/quote]

Hah, perspective meant as much for you in this case as it did for the composition of the video itself.

Stand up applause.

Love the choice of music and I'm marveled by the research and hard work done for such a beautiful final result.

This made my day much much much better.

[quote="MargaritaMc"][quote="Anthony Barreiro"]<<

From two kilometers distant, the people would have tiny angular dimensions, accounting for how much smaller they look than the half-degree wide Moon.[/quote]

Can you explain, please, Anthony?
Many thanks :)
Margarita[/quote]
I'll try.

The Moon is about 3500 kilometers in diameter and about 385,000 kilometers distant from the Earth. From the surface of the Earth, the Moon appears about half a degree wide, or thirty arcminutes wide. Your pinkie finger is about a centimeter wide. If you hold your pinkie finger out at arms length it's about a degree wide, twice as wide as the Moon, and will easily cover the Moon.

From two kilometers away, a 1.75 meter tall human body looks tiny, about 3 arcminutes tall, or about one tenth as tall as the width of the Moon. In this video Mark Gee used a telescope to magnify both the Moon and the people, so the Moon looks huge and we see a lot of detail on the surface of the Moon, and the people are magnified enough to show detail in their silhouettes. No matter how much you magnify the Moon and the people, with the people two kilometers away and the Moon 385,000 kilometers away, the Moon appears 10 times as big as the people. If you were looking through a telescope one kilometer away from the people, the Moon would look 5 times as big as the people. From four kilometers away, the Moon would look 20 times as big as the people. The important principle is that the angular size of an object shrinks by half when the distance to the object is doubled.

By the way, the relationship between diameter, distance, and angular size is why we experience total solar eclipses here on Earth. The diameter of the Sun is 400 times greater than the diameter of the Moon. The Sun is also 400 times farther away from the Earth than the Moon is. Voila, both the Sun and the Moon appear about one-half degree wide, and when the Moon passes exactly in front of the Sun (and when she is close to the Earth in her elliptical orbit), she completely covers the Sun, causing an eclipse. The Earth is the only planet in our solar system where this happy coincidence occurs.

[quote="Anthony Barreiro"]<<

From two kilometers distant, the people would have tiny angular dimensions, accounting for how much smaller they look than the half-degree wide Moon.[/quote]

Can you explain, please, Anthony?
Many thanks :)
Margarita

Brought tears to my eyes! Love the music! The moon truly is a "...faithful witness in the skies..." (Ps 89:37) The people enjoying this moon rise are what truly makes this special.
The optical phenomon of green on the top and red on the bottom is quite noticeable in this magnified image, truly beautiful!

I watched the video before I read the caption, and it looked like a composite image, with one layer for the foreground people and another layer for the magnified image of the Moon. Even with the Moon illusion, the Moon looks much too big relative to the people, and there is way too much detail visible on the Moon's surface. I was resisting the impulse to write one of those tedious "this is not up to apod's usual standards" comments.

Then I read the caption. This video was shot through a telescope two kilometers away from the silhouetted people on the mountaintop?! Bravo! Well done! From two kilometers distant, the people would have tiny angular dimensions, accounting for how much smaller they look than the half-degree wide Moon.

I guess a video of moonrise from the equator would blow northern and southern hemispheric minds.

Very nicely done.

Two things I noticed. One, it rose from the right to the left. And Tycho Crater is up and to the right. Then I realized it is in the Southern Hemisphere. Here it would rise from the left to right, and Tycho is bottom right.
As other people have noted.

Right? I did a websearch: The Moon southern hemisphere, and The Moon Northern Hemisphere, and, Sure Enough, the pictures look different.

I have seen a new feature on the moon. On the right, below and a slight part of Tycho Crater, is a "man, sitting on a stone loveseat". He looks like he is looking at his left arm, looking at the time. He must be lonely waiting for his LADY FRIEND. Late again???

Thanks for the different view. He would otherwise be sideways from what I see of the Moon, and I would not have noticed.

:---[===] *

This video, it seems to me, is one of the few from APOD that might be the basis for a compelling story or documentary short. Were someone to interview the photographer and tell the story how how this video came to be -- from the initial idea to the (apparently several) failed attempts to the finally triumphant shot. Also some people who saw the APOD video and were somehow affected could also be interviewed. An astronomer could also be interviewed to comment on how few videos like this previously existed, how long it really takes for Moon to rise, why the Moon appears somewhat fuzzy and shivery, and why a full moon always rises at sunset. At the end of the story or short documentary, the APOD video could be shown and the link to the lasting APOD clearly given. I think the story has a lot -- human interest, the drama of failure and success, real science content, and a lasting result. Anyone willing? I would doubt it, but if so please send me an email or respond to this thread!

- RJN

Yhye Moon is right side up! At least to those of us used to observing it in Northern Hemisphere telescopes

[quote="gorade"][quote="ewok21375"]

What's the music, please?[/quote]
Disturbing[/quote]
Try a little _[url=http://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/tenderness]Tenderness[/url]_ (Dan Phillipson)

[quote="oguydave"]Wow, what an awesome video! Nature is surely a wonderful thing.
A question, however. If the full moon rises (and this surely appears to be a full moon) as the sun sets,
how come the sky is black?[/quote]
It's a question of the dynamic range of the camera and of your display, both of which are much narrower than your eye. The length of exposure you need to show color in the sunset sky typically results in the Moon being overexposed. So to properly expose for the Moon, you usually end up with an underexposed (black) sky. Without performing some HDR-like processing, it's hard to avoid.

[quote="Skytreker"]You can tell right away that it's a southern hemisphere shot. The Moon is upside down! :D With Tycho crater on top and rising in the opposite direction. I wonder how the people downunder don't get seasick from all that hanging.[/quote]
And it tracks from right to left as it rises, whereas it tracks left to right in the Northern hemisphere.

Wow, what an awesome video! Nature is surely a wonderful thing.
A question, however. If the full moon rises (and this surely appears to be a full moon) as the sun sets,
how come the sky is black?

I had to mute the music. I was listening to a Dvorak symphony on Swiss Classic [url]http://livestream.srg-ssr.ch/1/rsc_de/mp3_128[/url]/ at the time. I'm not suggesting videographers refrain from adding their own music, there's always the mute button.
De gustibus non est disputandum, as those ancient Italians used to wax eloquently.
The full moon size illusion, mysterious as it may be, is beautiful to behold. Thank you for mentioning that the moon rose toward the south. I was under the mistaken impression that movie sunrises/sunsets that appear to be moving in the wrong direction were stock footage run backward. Aha! Those movies were filmed in Australia or New Zealand, where folks grab onto the ground with their bare feet. Tourists are probably outfitted with special ground-grabbing boots.