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Credit & Copyright: Giorgia Hofer
Explanation:
Nature photographers and other fans of planet Earth
always look forward to
the blue
hour.
That's the transition
in twilight,
just before sunrise or after sunset, when
the Sun is below the horizon but land and sky are still suffused with
a beautiful blue light.
After sunset on August 21,
this blue hour snapshot captured the nearly full Moon as it
rose opposite the Sun, above the rugged Italian Alps from
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
Sharing bluish hues with the sky, the rocky pyramid of Monte Antelao,
also known as the King of the Dolomites,
is the region's prominent alpine peak.
The moonlight
is yellow, but even so this full Moon was known to some
as a seasonal Blue Moon.
That's
because by one definition
the third full Moon of a season with four full moons
in it is called a Blue Moon.
Recognizing a season as the time between a solstice and an equinox,
this season's fourth
full
Moon will be rising
in the blue hour of September 20, just before September's equinox.
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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:
- APOD: 2025 June 20 Á Major Lunar Standstill 2024 2025
- APOD: 2025 June 18 Á Space Station Silhouette on the Moon
- APOD: 2025 April 22 Á Terminator Moon: A Moonscape of Shadows
- Moon Near the Edge
- APOD: 2025 April 8 Á Moon Visits Sister Stars
- APOD: 2025 April 6 Á Moonquakes Surprisingly Common
- Lunar Dust and Duct Tape