Image of the day: Moon's Edge...

www.space.com...

Reflecting sunlight ignites the moon's limb into a fiery crescent in this image taken by an amateur skywatcher.

Philippe Moussette of Quebec, Canada recorded this view of Earth’s moon on April 9, 2005 at the Observatory of Découverte Val-Bélair.

He used a 20D Canon digital camera mounted to a Meade LX200 telescope to record this 30-second exposure.

-- SPACE.com Staff

wow...

i thought our moon was a perfect circle...

i was wrong...

ENJOY!!!




[edit on 1/5/05 by JAK]

Nope, the Moon isn't a perfect circle. Of course, neither are any of the other planets or moons. The Sun isn't either!

And the reason the Moon looks so ovular is also because of the exposure time. The lit up part is really washed out, and bleeds through to give that appearance.

Fasinating stuff, thanks for the info guys

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
Nope, the Moon isn't a perfect circle. Of course, neither are any of the other planets or moons. The Sun isn't either!

And the reason the Moon looks so ovular is also because of the exposure time. The lit up part is really washed out, and bleeds through to give that appearance.

really!?!?!?

man, you learn something new everyday...

The Earth isn't a perfect circle either. Its rotation makes the poles a little flatter and there is a buldge in the equator

how well i wish to live on the earth ....... a nice place

Thats the first photo ive seen where the moon wasnt a perfect circle!!

Originally posted by balon0
Thats the first photo ive seen where the moon wasnt a perfect circle!!

me too...

this is why i am in shock...

same here. nice find

Originally posted by EricFM
same here. nice find

thank you...

It's actually sphere, circles are 2-D. Most of the pictures of the moon appear to be spherical mostly because you're too far to discern any disruptions on the surface. We can tell the earth isn't perfectly spherical because we have satellites and what not orbiting pretty closely, but the moon doesn't have many close range shots.

T'ain't nothin' that is spherical. It jus' don't happen.

Although it's gravity's hobby. Trying anyway.

Know what I notice first about the picture? It's pretty...

is it just me or does the moons surface look like a fifteen year olds face? Man, that poor moon took an @$$ beating by the ugly stick

I just measured the image and the asphericity is about 2%. I think The effect is due to optics and/or atmosphere, because the real value is about 0.2%.

Originally posted by DARKJEDIG
is it just me or does the moons surface look like a fifteen year olds face? Man, that poor moon took an @$$ beating by the ugly stick

That's what happens when you have no atmosphere/are made of rock, not water.

jsut looking at tha tpic I wonder what the Temp diff would be on the lit side and the dark side..
Looks like helluva difference from here! .
The White part looks to be ablaze!!
No wonder those astronauts required the EVA helmet shields..
What are they made out of??.. gold is it?

Temps range from about -170F to 265F

Nice photo...and yea, no perfect spheres 'round these parts...