A Smilie Moon and Earthshine
f/5.6 1.0 sec ISO 3200
In February and March the ecliptic, the plane of our solar system, becomes almost vertical to the Earth especially closer to the equator. The Sun, moon and the other planets appear in the ecliptic as well as the constellations of the Zodiac. Because of this phenomena the moon seems to be tipped over in its side and when it is a crescent it looks like it's smiling!
I was hoping to get a few shots of the "smile" Saturday night, but it was fairly cloudy. I set up my tripod anyway and the moon peeked though the clouds a few times to allow for a couple of photos. In the shot above, the moon was behind a little bit of haze. I believe that that is Mars just to the upper right of the moon, but I'm not positive.
The dim glow on the whole surface of the moon is caused by sunlight being reflected off the Earth. This is known as earthshine. The phases of the Earth as seen from the moon are just the opposite of the phases of the moon. When the moon is full the Earth is new and when there is a new moon there is a full Earth. When is moon is a small crescent, as it is now, the Earth is almost full and plenty of light is being reflected back to the moon.
Here are a few more shots that I took the other night.
f/6.3 1.0 sec ISO 3200
f/6.3 1/6 sec ISO 3200
f/6.3 1/5 sec ISO 3200
f/5.6 0.5 sec ISO 3200
f/5.6 1/4 sec ISO 3200
| Category | The moon |
| Settings | Various |
| Camera | Canon 60D |
| Lens | Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM |
| Location | Mims, Florida |
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Enjoy!
Roger