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Credit & Copyright: Talha Zia
Explanation:
Why does the right part of this image of the Moon stand out?
Shadows.
The terminator line -- the line between light and dark -- occurs in the featured
image so that just over half
the Moon's face is illuminated by sunlight.
The lunar surface appears different nearer
the terminator because there
the Sun is nearer the horizon and therefore causes
shadows to become increasingly long.
These shadows make it easier for us to discern
structure, giving us
depth
cues so that the
two-dimensional
image, when dominated by shadows, appears almost
three-dimensional.
Therefore, as the
Moon fades from light to dark,
shadows not only tell us the high from the low,
but become noticeable for increasingly shorter structures.
For example, many craters appear near the terminator because their height makes them
easier to discern there.
The image was taken two weeks ago when the
lunar phase was
waning
gibbous.
The next
full moon, a Moon without shadows,
will occur one week from today.
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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
Publications with words: Moon
See also: