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Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel
(TWAN)
Explanation:
Observe the Moon
every night and you'll see its visible sunlit portion gradually change.
In phases progressing
from New Moon to Full Moon to New Moon again,
a lunar cycle or lunation is completed in about 29.5 days.
Top left to bottom right, this 7x4 matrix of telescopic
images captures the range of lunar phases for 28 consecutive nights,
from the evening of July 29 to the morning of August 26,
following an
almost complete lunation.
No image was taken 24 hours or so just after and just before
New Moon,
when the lunar phase is at best a narrow crescent, close to the Sun
and really hard to see.
Finding mostly clear Mediterranean skies required an occasional
road trip to complete this lunar cycle project,
imaging in early evening for the first half and
late evening and early morning for the second half of the lunation.
Since all the images are registered at the same scale
you can use this matrix to track the
change in the Moon's apparent size during the single lunation.
For extra credit, find the lunar phase that occurred
closest to perigee.
Tonight:
International Observe the
Moon Night
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January February March April May June July August September October November December |
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Moon - lunation
Publications with words: Moon - lunation
See also: