by Ann » Mon May 24, 2021 5:42 am
This APOD is a repeat, I'm sure, but it doesn't matter, because it is a spectacular image. What I like best about it is that it "puts the Moon in perspective". Normally the (full or gibbous or at least half) Moon looks so brilliantly bright in the sky that it dominates everything, and you - or at least
I - can't help feeling that it is "big". I know how big it really is compared to the Earth, and I know that it is actually small in the sky, but it "feels" big.
But when it's eclipsed, and we can see a lot of bright sky features around it, it suddenly seems "small". I once saw a picture of the deeply orange eclipsed Moon right smack in the Milky Way in Sagittarius, and it was a wide-angle view. I didn't read the caption before looking at the picture - yes, there is the Lagoon Nebula, the Trifid Nebula, the Large Sagittarius Star Cloud, the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, the Teapot and.... what's that small orange blob over there? It was the eclipsed Moon. It was shockingly small and faint.
So I really appreciate seeing the small eclipsed orange Moon in a dramatic landscape of clouds and flashes of lightning! Tell me one thing, though. What are the bright stars to the right of the Moon in the APOD?
Okay, I found it: The arrowhead shape closest to the Moon is yellowish Antares, flanked by bluish (but white-looking) Tau and Sigma Scorpii. And then there are other stars belonging to upper Scorpius to the right of these three stars.
Great APOD!
Ann
This APOD is a repeat, I'm sure, but it doesn't matter, because it is a spectacular image. What I like best about it is that it "puts the Moon in perspective". Normally the (full or gibbous or at least half) Moon looks so brilliantly bright in the sky that it dominates everything, and you - or at least [i]I[/i] - can't help feeling that it is "big". I know how big it really is compared to the Earth, and I know that it is actually small in the sky, but it "feels" big.
But when it's eclipsed, and we can see a lot of bright sky features around it, it suddenly seems "small". I once saw a picture of the deeply orange eclipsed Moon right smack in the Milky Way in Sagittarius, and it was a wide-angle view. I didn't read the caption before looking at the picture - yes, there is the Lagoon Nebula, the Trifid Nebula, the Large Sagittarius Star Cloud, the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, the Teapot and.... what's that small orange blob over there? It was the eclipsed Moon. It was shockingly small and faint.
[float=left][img3="A lunar eclipse in a lightning storm with Antares and upper Scorpius peeking out to the right. Photo: Chris Kotsiopoulos."]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2105/LightningLunarEclipse_Kotsiopoulos_1024.jpg[/img3][/float][float=right][img3="Upper Scorpius with red supergiant Antares in a yellow reflection nebula, surrounded by mostly blue young stars. Photo: Alan Dyer. "]https://render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/default/print/5.5/8/break/images/artworkimages/medium/1/scorpius-with-parts-of-lupus-and-ara-alan-dyer.jpg[/img3][/float]
[clear][/clear]
So I really appreciate seeing the small eclipsed orange Moon in a dramatic landscape of clouds and flashes of lightning! Tell me one thing, though. What are the bright stars to the right of the Moon in the APOD?
Okay, I found it: The arrowhead shape closest to the Moon is yellowish Antares, flanked by bluish (but white-looking) Tau and Sigma Scorpii. And then there are other stars belonging to upper Scorpius to the right of these three stars.
Great APOD!
Ann