by MarkBour » Thu Dec 28, 2023 2:26 am
I agree, what an amazing image! It would not have been as great had Valerio Minato simply "happened" onto it. But to have planned it and had to return many times until this perfect capture, is so impressive and satisfying.
I think the light that is the Earthshine that lights the bulk of the Moon's disk here is different than the Earthshine one sees during a lunar eclipse. The latter, I believe, is from rays of sunlight that pass through Earth's atmosphere and -- slightly refracted -- head more directly to the surface of the Moon and then back to our eyes and cameras. The former, however, which we see in this image, first hits the Earth, mostly on places that are still in daylight, then reflects to the Moon, and finally bounces off its surface back to our eyes and cameras. This latter Earthshine, therefore, is a little bit different. It arrives at the Moon's surface about 1.3 seconds later* than the light that is directly illuminating the bright crescent. Not a big difference between the two kinds of Earthshine, just reflected rather than refracted on the journey.
I suppose some photon might have hit the Earth, reflected to the Moon, reflected to the backside of Monviso, reflected back to the Moon, and finally reflected back into the camera lens. At least a large number of photons made the first 3 legs of this journey, which is the whole reason you can see the silhouette of the mountain.
* (By "later", I'm just referring to photons that left the Sun at the same instant.)
[quote=FLPhotoCatcher post_id=335873 time=1703481523 user_id=139392]
Wow, great photo!
[/quote]
I agree, what an amazing image! It would not have been as great had Valerio Minato simply "happened" onto it. But to have planned it and had to return many times until this perfect capture, is so impressive and satisfying.
I think the light that is the Earthshine that lights the bulk of the Moon's disk here is different than the Earthshine one sees during a lunar eclipse. The latter, I believe, is from rays of sunlight that pass through Earth's atmosphere and -- slightly refracted -- head more directly to the surface of the Moon and then back to our eyes and cameras. The former, however, which we see in this image, first hits the Earth, mostly on places that are still in daylight, then reflects to the Moon, and finally bounces off its surface back to our eyes and cameras. This latter Earthshine, therefore, is a little bit different. It arrives at the Moon's surface about 1.3 seconds later* than the light that is directly illuminating the bright crescent. Not a big difference between the two kinds of Earthshine, just reflected rather than refracted on the journey.
I suppose some photon might have hit the Earth, reflected to the Moon, reflected to the backside of Monviso, reflected back to the Moon, and finally reflected back into the camera lens. At least a large number of photons made the first 3 legs of this journey, which is the whole reason you can see the silhouette of the mountain.
* (By "later", I'm just referring to photons that left the Sun at the same instant.)