Page 1 of 1
APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 4:06 am
by APOD Robot
A 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
ashen 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.
Re: APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 8:42 am
by heehaw
Wow!
Re: APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 9:44 am
by Boomer12k
Stunning... Ethereal...
Um... isn't that where Blofeld's new Mountain Lair is????
:---[===] *
Re: APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 10:00 am
by Ann
It looks amazing.
Ann
Re: APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 2:24 pm
by Cousin Ricky
Not as huge as whatever mountain the camera was sitting on.
Re: APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 2:34 pm
by orin stepanek
Re: APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 2:43 pm
by Ann
Busted! ![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Re: APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 3:15 pm
by lefthip
Certainly an eye-catching picture. Before I read the explanation I thought that it was the moon photoshopped into an edge-on galaxy.
Re: APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 3:43 pm
by TANSTAAFL
Great picture! Would someone who speaks the language of physics calculate how close Saturn would have to be to appear the same size as the Moon in our sky? TIA!
Re: APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 4:02 pm
by neufer
TANSTAAFL wrote: βMon Mar 16, 2020 3:43 pm
Would someone who speaks the language of physics calculate how close Saturn would have to be to appear the same size as the Moon in our sky?
- The Moon is about 32 arcminutes wide
Saturn is about 1/3 arcminute wide
Ergo, Saturn would need to be about 100 times closer than it is.
Re: APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 4:42 pm
by MarkBour
Cousin Ricky wrote: βMon Mar 16, 2020 2:24 pm
Not as huge as whatever mountain the camera was sitting on.
That makes sense. I'm not from around there, but armed with Google and Wikipedia ...
The rising, pre-dawn, crescent moon would be in the East. So the lights in the background are some of the small towns (I think they're small) east of Pacaya. The peak elevation of Pacaya is 2552m . Then, mostly west of Pacaya is the much taller Volcan de Agua (peak elevation 3760m). The image might have been shot from somewhere on that massive mountain ... Both volcanic cones look truly massive in local images, but yes, Volcan de Agua is the bigger brother for sure. But Pacaya is much more active than Agua, of late.
Re: APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 9:14 pm
by BDanielMayfield
Today's apod made me wonder about the possible existence of exomoons with rings. In our system no moons have rings, but what about other systems?
Bruce
Re: APOD: A Moon Dressed Like Saturn (2020 Mar 16)
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2020 9:53 pm
by neufer
BDanielMayfield wrote: βMon Mar 16, 2020 9:14 pm
In our system no moons have rings, but what about other systems?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Rhea