                        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 February 15

                               Terminator Moon
     Image Credit: NASA, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, SVS; Processing &
                         Copyright: Jai & Neil Shet

   Explanation: What's different about this Moon? It's the terminators. In
   the featured image, you can't directly see any terminator -- the line
   that divides the light of day from the dark of night. That's because
   the image is a digital composite of 29 near-terminator lunar strips.
   Terminator regions show the longest and most prominent shadows --
   shadows which, by their contrast and length, allow a flat photograph to
   appear three-dimensional. The original images and data were taken near
   the Moon by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Many of the Moon's
   craters stand out because of the shadows they all cast to the right.
   The image shows in graphic detail that the darker regions known as
   maria are not just darker than the rest of the Moon -- they are
   flatter.

          Dial-A-Moon: Find the phase of the Moon on your birthday.
                    Tomorrow's picture: eroding sun tower
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

