                        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 October 1

                               Lunation Matrix
                 Image Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel (TWAN)

   Explanation: Observe the Moon every night and you'll see its visible
   sunlit portion gradually change. In phases progressing from New Moon to
   Full Moon to New Moon again, a lunar cycle or lunation is completed in
   about 29.5 days. Top left to bottom right, this 7x4 matrix of
   telescopic images captures the range of lunar phases for 28 consecutive
   nights, from the evening of July 29 to the morning of August 26,
   following an almost complete lunation. No image was taken 24 hours or
   so just after and just before New Moon, when the lunar phase is at best
   a narrow crescent, close to the Sun and really hard to see. Finding
   mostly clear Mediterranean skies required an occasional road trip to
   complete this lunar cycle project, imaging in early evening for the
   first half and late evening and early morning for the second half of
   the lunation. Since all the images are registered at the same scale you
   can use this matrix to track the change in the Moon's apparent size
   during the single lunation. For extra credit, find the lunar phase that
   occurred closest to perigee.

                Tonight: International Observe the Moon Night
                      Tomorrow's picture: cosmic cannon
     __________________________________________________________________

       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,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

