by APOD Robot » Sun Nov 05, 2017 4:08 am
A Year of Full Moons
Explanation: Do all full moons look the same? No. To see the slight differences, consider this grid of twelve full moons. From upper left to lower right, the images represent every
lunation from 2016 November through 2017 October, as imaged from
Pakistan. The consecutive
full moons are all shown at the
same scale, so unlike the famous
Moon Illusion, the change in apparent size seen here is real. The change is caused by
the variation in lunar distance due to the Moon's significantly
non-circular orbit. The dark notch at the bottom of the full moon of 2017 August is the
shadow of the Earth -- making this a
partial lunar eclipse. Besides the sometimes exaggerated coloring, a subtler change in appearance can also be noticed on close examination, as
the Moon seems to wobble slightly from one full moon to the next. This effect, known as
libration, is more dramatic and easier to see in this
lunation video highlighting all of the ways that the
Moon appears to change over a month (
moon-th).
[/b]
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap171105.html][img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_171105.jpg[/img] [size=150]A Year of Full Moons[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Do all full moons look the same? No. To see the slight differences, consider this grid of twelve full moons. From upper left to lower right, the images represent every [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120205.html]lunation[/url] from 2016 November through 2017 October, as imaged from [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan]Pakistan[/url]. The consecutive [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_moon]full moon[/url]s are all shown at the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061228.html]same scale[/url], so unlike the famous [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap031011.html]Moon Illusion[/url], the change in apparent size seen here is real. The change is caused by [url=http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/moon_ap_per.html]the variation[/url] in lunar distance due to the Moon's significantly [url=https://blogs.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/193/2013/05/1015198main_Moon_perigee_550.jpg]non-circular orbit[/url]. The dark notch at the bottom of the full moon of 2017 August is the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170601.html]shadow of the Earth[/url] -- making this a [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170809.html]partial lunar eclipse[/url]. Besides the sometimes exaggerated coloring, a subtler change in appearance can also be noticed on close examination, as [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/moon]the Moon[/url] seems to wobble slightly from one full moon to the next. This effect, known as [url=http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/Smoon4.htm]libration[/url], is more dramatic and easier to see in this [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120205.html]lunation video[/url] highlighting all of the ways that the [url=https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4537]Moon appears[/url] to change over a month ([url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_month]moon-th[/url]).
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