May Full Moon
As the Full Moon rises tomorrow you will see what is called a Solstice Moon Illusion. A huge Moon will be rising in the east. Normally a low Moon on the horizon means an unusually big looking one, but for some reason during the summer solstice it seems to look bigger. No one really knows for sure why this illusion takes place, technically the Moon is the same size no matter where the Moon is but our brain sees it larger on the horizon, whatever the reason, just look to the east at Moon rise tomorrow to get a spectacular view, weather permitting I'll be taking lots of images to post for the weekend if you miss it.
To find out when the Moon rises in your location just visit Sky View Cafe, click on the find tab, type in your city and it will come back with all kinds of goodies like the whereabouts of the various celestial bodies at times for your area, if you need any help with the Moon rise time for your location just leave a comment and I'll get it for you.
Sun filtered through clouds, June 15, 2008I was out last Sunday to get a horizon Moon shot for this post but it never showed itself from behind the clouds, so I thought I'd post this one instead. As I was turning to leave I happened to notice a pastel like cloudscape around the Sun and was very lucky to be able to capture the above image just as a bank of clouds was dropping which filtered out the blinding light of the Sun to show it's shape.
Snow White Dig siteStill nothing in the water finding department at the Phoenix Mars Lander site. They started a new dig called "Snow White" just today. It is about .8 inches in depth. The previous dig where they found the mysterious white stuff was around 2 inches deep, which by the way they are still keeping an eye on, if the white substance is ice it will either develop frost or sublimate, which means turn from a solid to a gaseous state.
I'll leave you now with an animated Solar cloudscape image.
26 comments:
Hi Bob! That is a super shot of the moon. I noticed last night that the moon is very low in the sky right now. Is that unusual?
What I mean is that instead of traversing the sky even close to overhead, it is staying way to the south as it goes across. Sort of like the sun does in mid winter.
And to answer your question, I am not 100% positive on the ID of the flower post I just put up. I'll try to find out. Or maybe someone who sees the post will know and answer.
Boboid, ahahahaha. Very funny. I like that.
Thanks for that info on the solstice, I'm sure my prof said something like that...but like I've said before, you're a way better teacher than she was ;)
Darn, I didn't come to your blog before the moon rose last night. But I sure noticed how bright it was last night - the sky, not the moon. I have to pay more attention!
Love these photos, those clouds with the sun make such a great abstract!
Oh, I was wondering what "illusion" the news headlines were talking about. Very cool!
We were married on the solstice. My wife thought it was meaningful (Earth Mother and all that). I thought we would absolutely NEED the longest day of the year in order to get ready for our evening wedding. It worked out just fine.
Thanks Will, excellent question. During summer solstice the Earth has it's highest tilt towards the Sun, 23.5 degrees, the tilt is why we have the seasons. So now in the Northern Hemisphere we are having summer because we are closest to the Sun thanks to the tilt.
Now this is important, during a Full Moon, the Moon is physically on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun, if the Northern Hemisphere is pointing towards the Sun it must be pointing away from the Moon, because of this it will appear to travel in a low arc across the sky from the SE.to the SW.
Right now in the Southern Hemisphere they are having winter, therefore they are tilted away from the Sun and towards the Moon, the Moon right now is high in their sky because of this.
Sorry for the long explaination, hope it makes some kind of sense. \m/\m/
Thanks drowsey monkey, Lol, I kind of like the Boboid name.\m/\m/
Thanks Ruth, at least you still have a couple days to see a big Moon, and the most important day June 18, Full Moon, good luck with the weather.\m/\m/
Lol marvin about needing the longest day of the year to get ready for your wedding, glad it worked out fine.:D :-D \m/\m/
bob j
excellent photo of sun filter
unbelievable and gorgeous!
okay time to complain...
your site takes forever to load
any possibility you can curtail how many posts are on one page? i dont have all day ya know :0
Thanks Paula, I have reduced the previous posts now to 5 from 9, and removed some widgets and a video, It seems to load faster on my computer, let me know if it helps yours to load faster.\m/\m/
Bob:
Great post and wonderful images. I remember seeing that huge moon as a kid while I was living in the Mojave Desert. It seemed absolutely gigantic. As an adult, I've either missed it, or forgot to pay any attention. Probably both.
Interesting clouds in the middle image. That might make a unique GIF.
No water! You're scaring me Bob. Are you saying that the results are in on the first sample and they failed to detect H20, so now they're giving it a second try?
Anxiously awaiting your reply...
I love this animated picture, so mystical looking.
Interesting post as usual, Bob!
Very awesome Bob!
Thanks swubird, that's right no water, somehow I was thinking they would find water right away, well there is still time, they have 3 months on Mars, keeping my fingers crossed.\m/\m/
Thanks Susanne, glad you like the gif.:D :-D \m/\m/
Thanks Roger.\m/\m/
WOW!!! Great shots and post, Bob!!! I missed the enhanced moon because of cloud cover too and rushed over here this morn.
What do you think the white matter on Mars is?
Hugs, JJ
I had a great view of the moon last night - it was blood red here in the city as the atmosphere surrounded our lunar buddy! it was awesome. I am stoked too - I downloaded a program for my mobile phone that keeps track of all the orbits! including moons! \0/
Bob:
No water? I don't get it. Is all that white stuff that comes and goes on the poles with the seasons just carbon dioxide ice? Mars is truly a mystery.
Thanks JJ, too bad you missed it, it was great, I will post pics Friday after work. I have no idea what the white stuff is, I hope it's water, we shall see.\m/\m/
Woo Hoo way to go sherer, glad you saw it, pictures, although great just don't do it justice. Cool you got a tracker for your phone, I too am on a lot of alert systems, some that actually phone my cell, like at 1:00 in the morning,lol.\m/
Yes swubird, it is solid carbon dioxide developed ice, in fact in around 3 months when winter arrives, they expect to see lots of it around the lander, it will probably be too cold for the lander to do any science then, we will have to wait and see.\m/
Hi Bob! I can't believe how detailed the Snow White Dig site image is. It's fantastic! You would have thought it was taken here on earth, it's so clear.
Came across another site you might be interested in.
http://fotoflexer.com/
If you know of it already, please excuse me.
Take Care,
Peter
Thanks Peter, and thanks for the link, never been before, cool,\m/
Absolutely beautiful shots Bob! Loved the May Full Moon...we rarely get those here...way to mountainous.
~JD
Thanks JD, when I was in Kelowna, couldn't get a Moon Rise, so it is nice to have flat land sometimes.
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