APOD: Solstice Dawn and Full Moonset (2016 Jun 23)

[APOD Robot]

Solstice Dawn and Full Moonset

Explanation: A Full Moon sets as the Solstice Sun rises in this June 20 dawn skyscape. Captured from a nearby peak in central California, planet Earth, the scene looks across the summit of Mount Hamilton and Lick Observatory domes on a calendar date that marks an astronomical change of seasons and hemispherical extremes of daylight hours. Earth's shadow stretches toward the Santa Cruz Mountains on the western horizon. Just above the atmospheric grey shadowband is a more colorful anti-twilight arch, a band of reddened, backscattered sunlight also known as the Belt of Venus. The interplay of solstice dates and lunar months does make this solstice and Full Moon a rare match-up. The next June solstice and Full Moon will fall on the same calendar date on June 21, 2062.

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[Confused]

I look at the Mount Wilson camera every day. I am also familiar with the Griffith Park Observatory. For some reason this picture gives me a funny feeling. It took me a few seconds to realize that this observatory is none of the ones I am familiar with. Initially I thought: How did they get this picture of Mount Wilson?

[heehaw]

Be sure to look at http://epod.usra.edu/blog/ for a sense of deja vu!

[Steve Dutch]

There are some faint anti-crepuscular rays visible. De-focus your eyes to see them. The most prominent is a broad band that slants down and toward the right toward the smaller dome. Some distant cloud or peak in the Sierra Nevada is casting a shadow that extends all the way across the sky.

[MdB]

Beautiful shot, as usual, but I was disappointed to see the description imitate the misleading proclamations of the significance of this event in other media. This full moon occurred eleven hours before the summer solstice; in which coming year will the moment of the full moon occur even closer to the moment of the solstice? The calendar date, is of course, meaningless.

[Boomer12k]

Must be nice this time of year....

Great pic...

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