APOD: Green Flash and Super Moon (2012 May 10)

[yellowcoupe]

The source for the APOD on 5/10/12 is questionable. A link in the caption shows a video that includes that "green flash". The video is an obvious "photoshop" composite. A 300 mm lens aimed at the moon would not have coverage wide enough to include a harbor full of boats. A 300 lens also would not have a depth of field that would put the foreground boats and the background elements such as clouds and moon in focus.

In reality, the apparent size of the super moon is only slightly larger than the sun yet in the video the moon is 5-6 times the size of the sun.

That the video was "photoshopped" and not identified as such begs the question- is the green flash the result of digital manipulation?

[Chris Peterson]

The source for the APOD on 5/10/12 is questionable. A link in the caption shows a video that includes that "green flash". The video is an obvious "photoshop" composite. A 300 mm lens aimed at the moon would not have coverage wide enough to include a harbor full of boats. A 300 lens also would not have a depth of field that would put the foreground boats and the background elements such as clouds and moon in focus.

In reality, the apparent size of the super moon is only slightly larger than the sun yet in the video the moon is 5-6 times the size of the sun.

That the video was "photoshopped" and not identified as such begs the question- is the green flash the result of digital manipulation?

I see nothing in the video to suggest it was edited.

You're mistaken about the optics of the 300mm lens. The depth of focus and field of view depend on the distance from the harbor. In this case, it appears that the camera was quite far from the water.