                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

                               2022 January 1

                            The Full Moon of 2021
               Image Credit & Copyright: Soumyadeep Mukherjee

   Explanation: Every Full Moon of 2021 shines in this year-spanning
   astrophoto project, a composite portrait of the familiar lunar nearside
   at each brightest lunar phase. Arranged by moonth, the year progresses
   in stripes beginning at the top. Taken with the same camera and lens
   the stripes are from Full Moon images all combined at the same pixel
   scale. The stripes still looked mismatched, but they show that the Full
   Moon's angular size changes throughout the year depending on its
   distance from Kolkata, India, planet Earth. The calendar month, a full
   moon name, distance in kilometers, and angular size is indicated for
   each stripe. Angular size is given in minutes of arc corresponding to
   1/60th of a degree. The largest Full Moon is near a perigee or closest
   approach in May. The smallest is near an apogee, the most distant Full
   Moon in December. Of course the full moons of May and November also
   slid into Earth's shadow during 2021's two lunar eclipses.

                    Tomorrow's picture: bright moon halos
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

