最后的满月

最后的满月

BySamuel Chan

2023年12月30日 The Last Full Moon Image Credit & Copyright: Giacomo Venturin Explanation: Known to some in the northern hemisphere as December’s Cold Moon or the Long Night Moon, the last full moon of 2023 is rising in this surreal mountain and skyscape. The Daliesque scene was captured in a single exposure with a camera and long telephoto lens near Monte Grappa, Italy. The full moon is not melting, though. Its stretched and distorted appearance near the horizon is caused as refraction along the line of sight changes and creates shifting images or mirages of the bright lunar disk. The changes in atmospheric refraction correspond to atmospheric layers with sharply different temperatures and densities. Other effects of atmospheric refraction produced by the long sight-line to this…

猎鹰9号与狩月

猎鹰9号与狩月

ByNASA中文

2022年10月14日 The Falcon and the Hunter’s Moon Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Seeley Explanation: The Full Moon of October 9th was the second Full Moon after the northern hemisphere autumnal equinox, traditionally called the Hunter’s Moon. According to lore, the name is a fitting one because this Full Moon lights the night during a time for hunting in preparation for the coming winter months. In this snapshot, a nearly full Hunter’s Moon was captured just after sunset on October 8, rising in skies over Florida’s Space Coast. Rising from planet Earth a Falcon 9 rocket pierces the bright lunar disk from the photographer’s vantage point. Ripples and fringes along the edge of the lunar disk appear as supersonic shock waves generated by the rocket’s passage…

卢波夫纳城堡与满月

卢波夫纳城堡与满月

ByNASA中文

2022年7月15日 Lubovna Full Moon Petr Horalek / Institute of Physics in Opava Explanation: On July 13 this well-planned telephoto view recorded a Full Moon rising over Lubovna Castle in eastern Slovakia. The photographer was about 3 kilometers from the castle walls and about 357,000 kilometers from this Full Moon near perigee, the closest point in its elliptical orbit. Known to some as supermoons, full moons near perigee are a little brighter and larger in planet Earth’s sky when compared to full moons that occur near the average lunar distance of around 384,000 kilometers. Of course any Full Moon near the horizon can show the effects of refraction over a long sight-line through dense clear atmosphere. In this image, atmospheric refraction creates the slight green flash…

太阳绿闪的影片

太阳绿闪的影片

ByNASA中文

2021年11月10日 Video of a Green Flash Video Credit & Copyright: Paolo Lazzarotti Explanation: Many think it is just a myth. Others think it is true but its cause isn’t known. Adventurers pride themselves on having seen it. It’s a green flash from the Sun. The truth is the green flash does exist and its cause is well understood. Just as the setting Sun disappears completely from view, a last glimmer appears startlingly green. The effect is typically visible only from locations with a low, distant horizon, and lasts just a few seconds. A green flash is also visible for a rising Sun, but takes better timing to spot. A dramatic green flash was caught on video last month as the Sun set beyond the Ligurian…

日环食的恶魔之角

日环食的恶魔之角

ByNASA中文

2021年06月18日 Devil Horns from a Ring of Fire Image Credit & Copyright: Madhup Rathi Explanation: Atmospheric refraction flattened the solar disk and distorted its appearance in this telescopic view of an Atlantic sunrise on June 10. From Belmar, New Jersey on the US east coast, the scene was recorded at New Moon during this season’s annular solar eclipse. The Moon in partial silhouette gives the rising Sun its crescent shape reminding some of the horns of the devil (or maybe a flying canoe …). But at its full annular phase this eclipsed Sun looked like a ring of fire in the heavens. June’s annular solar eclipse followed on the heels of the total lunar eclipse of late May’s Full Moon. Of course, that total lunar…

形似希腊字母Ω的东升旭日

形似希腊字母Ω的东升旭日

ByNASA中文

2020年9月21日 Omega Sunrise Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Antonio Sendra Explanation: Capturing this sunrise required both luck and timing. First and foremost, precise timing was needed to capture a sailboat crossing right in front of a rising Sun. Additionally, by a lucky coincidence, the background Sun itself appears unusual — it looks like the Greek letter Omega (Ω). In reality, the Sun remained its circular self — the Omega illusion was created by sunlight refracting through warm air just above the water. Optically, the feet of the capital Omega are actually an inverted image of the Sun region just above it. Although somewhat rare, optical effects caused by the Earth’s atmosphere can make distant objects near the horizon — including the Sun and Moon —…

太阳、月亮、金星及水星的绿闪

太阳、月亮、金星及水星的绿闪

ByNASA中文

2020 May 30 Green Flashes: Sun, Moon, Venus, Mercury Image Credit & Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace Explanation: Follow a sunset on a clear day against a distant horizon and you might glimpse green just as the Sun disappears from view. The green flash is caused by refraction of light rays traveling to the eye over a long path through the atmosphere. Shorter wavelengths refract more strongly than longer redder wavelengths and the separation of colors lends a green hue to the last visible vestige of the solar disk. It’s harder to see a green flash from the Moon, not to mention the diminutive disks of Venus and Mercury. But a telescope or telephoto lens and camera can help catch this tantalizing result of atmospheric refraction…