APOD: The Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2024 Sep 01)

[APOD Robot]

The Moon Dressed Like Saturn

Explanation: Why does Saturn appear so big? It doesn't -- what is pictured are foreground clouds on Earth crossing in front of the Moon. The Moon shows a slight crescent phase with most of its surface visible by reflected Earthlight, known as Da Vinci glow. The Sun directly illuminates the brightly lit lunar crescent from the bottom, which means that the Sun must be below the horizon and so the image was taken before sunrise. This double take-inducing picture was captured on 2019 December 24, two days before the Moon slid in front of the Sun to create a solar eclipse. In the foreground, lights from small Guatemalan towns are visible behind the huge volcano Pacaya.

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[Ann]

Wow! Yes, I know, this is a repeat image, but Sundays are repeat days, and this image is certainly spectacular enough to be featured as an APOD at least twice!

The Moon Dressed Like Saturn Image Credit & Copyright: Francisco Sojuel

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What creates the illusion that the Moon has rings is the fact that the long narrow cloud bank that passes in front of it consists of two parts: one dense and dark, which seems to cut the face of the Moon in half, and one much thinner, which seems to disappear as it passes in front of the luminous face of the Moon. Therefore the thin part of the cloud bank appears to pass behind the Moon. Which it clearly doesn't, of course.

Ann

[JimB]

What creates the illusion that the Moon has rings is the fact that the long narrow cloud bank that passes in front of it consists of two parts: one dense and dark, which seems to cut the face of the Moon in half, and one much thinner, which seems to disappear as it passes in front of the luminous face of the Moon. Therefore the thin part of the cloud bank appears to pass behind the Moon. Which it clearly doesn't, of course.

Ann

The other odd feature, to me at least, is that the crescent moon is lying flat on it's back, which it never is from European latitudes.

[JohnD]

Has the Moon been out drinking? The ring around the Moon has slipped a bit.

Surely this does not bode well? ""Last night, the moon had a golden ring, And to-night no moon we see!"
Wreck of the Hesperus, Longfellow.

[Cousin Ricky]

The other odd feature, to me at least, is that the crescent moon is lying flat on it's back, which it never is from European latitudes.

That’s one thing I appreciate about living in the tropics. I think of it as the “Smiling Moon.”

(The smile will have to do for me, as my pareidolia cannot see the alleged Man in the Moon unless someone takes a Sharpie and draws a face on a photo of the Moon.)

[Lee]

The moon trying on its Halloween costume.

[Astral_Bob]

" . . .and so the image was taken before sunrise." If you didn't know the phase was waning gibbous, how could one differentiate from a sunset picture?

[Chris Peterson]

" . . .and so the image was taken before sunrise." If you didn't know the phase was waning gibbous, how could one differentiate from a sunset picture?

The location is in the northern hemisphere. The angle of the ecliptic (inferred from the tilt of the crescent) means we must be looking east, so it's near sunrise. If we were looking west near sunset the crescent would be tipped the other way.