                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2019 March 23
                                      [2]
                      Four Towers and the Equinox Moon
           Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Javier Martinez Moran [4]

Explanation: The first Full Moon of northern spring [5] rises behind four
distant towers in this telescopic view [6] . In an image captured from some 40
kilometers west of the city of Madrid, this moonrise also represents a near
coincidence of the full lunar phase with lunar perigee [7]  and the March
equinox [8] . Close to the horizon, the Full Moon's strangely rippled and
distorted shape has more to do with the long sight-line through a layered
atmosphere [9] , though. Tantalizing visible effects of the substantial
atmospheric refraction include the appearance of a thin floating sliver just
above the lunar disk. The remarkable optical mirage is related to the more
commonly witnessed green flash [10] of the setting Sun.

                   Tomorrow's picture: ancient star cluster

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1903/luna-marzo.jpg
  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [4] https://www.instagram.com/j.martinezmoran/
  [5] https://earthsky.org/tonight/ full-supermoon-on-march-2019-equinox
  [6] https://www.instagram.com/p/BvSU342HeJq/
  [7] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/earths-moon/ what-is-a-supermoon/
  [8] ap190320.html
  [9] ap170120.html
  [10] https://www.atoptics.co.uk/atoptics/gf1.htm
  [11] ap190322.html
  [12] archivepix.html
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  [22] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
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  [24] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
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