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Credit & Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace
(GreenFlash.Photo)
Explanation:
What's happened to the Moon?
Nothing, but something has happened to the image of the Moon.
The heat from a
volcanic lava fountain in the foreground has warmed and made
turbulent
the air nearby, causing passing light to
refract differently than usual.
The result is a
lava plume that appears to be
melting the Moon.
The featured picture was taken as the full
Sturgeon Moon was
setting behind
Mt. Etna as it
erupted in
Italy about one week ago.
The picture is actually a
composite of two images,
one taken right after the other, with the same camera and lens.
The
first image
was a quick exposure to capture details of the setting Moon, while the
second exposure,
taken after the Moon set a few minutes later,
was longer so as to capture details of the faint lava jets.
From our Earth, we can only see the
Sun,
Moon, planets, and stars as they appear through the distortion of the
Earth's atmosphere.
This distortion can not only change the images of familiar orbs into
unusual
shapes, it can --unexpectedly at times --
delay sunset
and moonset by several minutes.
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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
Publications with words: Moon
See also: