APOD: A View from Earth's Shadow (2022 May 20)

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APOD: A View from Earth's Shadow (2022 May 20)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri May 20, 2022 4:06 am

Image A View from Earth's Shadow

Explanation: This serene sand and skyscape finds the Dune of Pilat on the coast of France still in Earth's shadow during the early morning hours of May 16. Extending into space, the planet's dark umbral shadow covered the Moon on that date. From that location the total phase of a lunar eclipse had begun before moonset. Still in sunlight though, the International Space Station crossed from the western horizon and Earth's largest artificial moon traced the bright flat arc through the sky over 400 km above. Simply constructed, the well-planned panoramic scene was captured over a 5 minutes in a series of consecutive images.

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Re: APOD: A View from Earth's Shadow (2022 May 20)

Post by XgeoX » Fri May 20, 2022 9:02 am

Serene is the perfect description for this beautiful image.

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Re: APOD: A View from Earth's Shadow (2022 May 20)

Post by rstevenson » Fri May 20, 2022 9:47 am

I’m trying to understand when the picture was taken. The hints in the description don’t seem to gel well.

“During the early morning hours” could mean early as in shortly after midnight, or early as in just before dawn, a range of about 6 hours.

The total eclipse phase “had begun before moonset.” Moonset on May 16 in France occurred at 6:21 am, so that works.

The ISS was “still in sunlight”, which makes it sound like after sunset rather than early morning. Maybe that’s where my confusion lies. The ISS is, obviously, outside of the Earth’s shadow and in early morning sunlight, but not “still” in it.

One final puzzle… the streak of the ISS path is not exactly smooth, but given the “series of consecutive images” taken over 5 minutes I would have expected dots or multiple short streaks, as we’ve seen many times when a satellite crosses through a sky image. And that streak is heavily pixelated, implying some, er, adjustment done in processing. So I’m wondering how exactly the streak was produced.

I’d ask all this of the photographer, but the link in his name under the image doesn’t work.

Rob

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Re: APOD: A View from Earth's Shadow (2022 May 20)

Post by javachip3 » Fri May 20, 2022 11:47 am

During a total lunar eclipse, an observer on the moon would have a spectacular sight: a total eclipse of the sun by Earth, as in this artist's impression. Earth would be encircled by a red ring of sunlight refracted by Earth's atmosphere. Beyond the red ring, the sun's outer corona would be visible. It's doubtful that any human-made lights on Earth would be visible from the moon during such an eclipse, because they would be overwhelmed by refracted sunlight. However, on non-eclipse days, when Earth is in crescent phase, would human-made lights on Earth's non-sunlit side be visible from the moon? Earth would appear close to the sun, but there would be minimal glare since the moon has virtually no atmosphere. Human-made lights on Earth are easily visible from the ISS. The moon is "only" 1000 times farther away.
Click to play embedded YouTube video.

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Re: APOD: A View from Earth's Shadow (2022 May 20)

Post by orin stepanek » Fri May 20, 2022 11:57 am

eclipse-lune-2022.jpg
Interesting concept of the eclipse! I've never seen it shown this way
before! 8-)
1280px-DunePyla.JPG
Dune of Pilat from France! What natural event causes that?
Orin

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Re: APOD: A View from Earth's Shadow (2022 May 20)

Post by Sa Ji Tario » Fri May 20, 2022 4:45 pm

rstevenson wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 9:47 am I’m trying to understand when the picture was taken. The hints in the description don’t seem to gel well.

“During the early morning hours” could mean early as in shortly after midnight, or early as in just before dawn, a range of about 6 hours.

The total eclipse phase “had begun before moonset.” Moonset on May 16 in France occurred at 6:21 am, so that works.

The ISS was “still in sunlight”, which makes it sound like after sunset rather than early morning. Maybe that’s where my confusion lies. The ISS is, obviously, outside of the Earth’s shadow and in early morning sunlight, but not “still” in it.

One final puzzle… the streak of the ISS path is not exactly smooth, but given the “series of consecutive images” taken over 5 minutes I would have expected dots or multiple short streaks, as we’ve seen many times when a satellite crosses through a sky image. And that streak is heavily pixelated, implying some, er, adjustment done in processing. So I’m wondering how exactly the streak was produced.

I’d ask all this of the photographer, but the link in his name under the image doesn’t work.

Rob
The ISS will have left and entered the Earth's shadow cone to shine with sunlight and be detected by the camera, part of the ocean can be seen on the far right of the image, the image is taken looking west at 05:30 am approximately during totality above the crest of the dune of about 100 mt. For the area it was an eclipse somewhat illuminated by sunrise.-

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Re: APOD: A View from Earth's Shadow (2022 May 20)

Post by Chris Peterson » Fri May 20, 2022 6:15 pm

rstevenson wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 9:47 am I’m trying to understand when the picture was taken. The hints in the description don’t seem to gel well.

“During the early morning hours” could mean early as in shortly after midnight, or early as in just before dawn, a range of about 6 hours.

The total eclipse phase “had begun before moonset.” Moonset on May 16 in France occurred at 6:21 am, so that works.

The ISS was “still in sunlight”, which makes it sound like after sunset rather than early morning. Maybe that’s where my confusion lies. The ISS is, obviously, outside of the Earth’s shadow and in early morning sunlight, but not “still” in it.

One final puzzle… the streak of the ISS path is not exactly smooth, but given the “series of consecutive images” taken over 5 minutes I would have expected dots or multiple short streaks, as we’ve seen many times when a satellite crosses through a sky image. And that streak is heavily pixelated, implying some, er, adjustment done in processing. So I’m wondering how exactly the streak was produced.

I’d ask all this of the photographer, but the link in his name under the image doesn’t work.

Rob
Here's a star chart for the event. The entire path of the ISS in the image is in full sunlight. That is, we're not seeing it enter or exit shadow at either end (the endpoints are defined by the exposure start and stop). It is traveling from the right (west) to the left (south). You can see it pass just above Scorpius (the bright star to the left of the Moon is Antares) and end just before crossing below the Teapot of Sagittarius. Note in the chart that the ISS is passing above the Moon at 05:48 local, which is during totality at that location (and indeed, at a point in totality consistent with the brighter lower edge of the Moon).
_
PassSkyChart2.png
Chris

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Re: APOD: A View from Earth's Shadow (2022 May 20)

Post by rstevenson » Fri May 20, 2022 6:52 pm

I wasn't questioning the veracity of the image, and I understand that the ISS is in sunlight. I was trying to suggest that the wording which laboriously tried to hint at when the picture was taken was less than helpful. It would have been far simpler and clearer to simply say the series of pictures were taken at about 5:40 am local time.

As for the fuzziness of the image, I was able to visit the photog's site (in a different browser which was compatible with his web site code) and I saw that all his public images are similarly degraded. He sells his images and is using that method, I must conclude, to keep others from stealing them.

Rob

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Re: APOD: A View from Earth's Shadow (2022 May 20)

Post by Chris Peterson » Fri May 20, 2022 7:19 pm

rstevenson wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 6:52 pm I wasn't questioning the veracity of the image, and I understand that the ISS is in sunlight. I was trying to suggest that the wording which laboriously tried to hint at when the picture was taken was less than helpful. It would have been far simpler and clearer to simply say the series of pictures were taken at about 5:40 am local time.

As for the fuzziness of the image, I was able to visit the photog's site (in a different browser which was compatible with his web site code) and I saw that all his public images are similarly degraded. He sells his images and is using that method, I must conclude, to keep others from stealing them.

Rob
Sure. I didn't understand your question to be suggesting anything was faked in the image. My post was just intended to show the actual path, to point out the visible asterisms, and to note not that the ISS is in sunlight, which is obvious, but rather, that both endpoints of its path are defined by the exposure, not by Earth's shadow.
Chris

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