At first glance, you would be forgiven for confusing these images with a scene from the latest science fiction blockbuster.
But it is very real and proves it with a dramatic detail of how much the moon “shines” in the sky during each 27-day orbit.
Lunar photographer Andrew McCarthy spent hundreds of hours for 22 consecutive nights, taking thousands of photographs of the moon as it grew and then faded almost into full orbit.
While “swinging,” known as hovering, is a well-known phenomenon, the incredible images show how much the moon changes angle as it rotates.
The Moon always keeps us the same face, but not exactly the same face. Because of the tilt and shape of its orbit, we see the Moon from slightly different angles over the course of a month, ”NASA explains.
“When a month is compressed in 24 seconds, our changing view of the Moon makes it seem hesitant. This balance is called a scale, a scale, a scale.
McCarthy, based in California, USA, wanted to show for the first time the exact movement of the moon in the sky over a lunar month.
He said he was surprised to see up close how much the moon angle changes as it rotates.
His 40-second video clip, made up of thousands of images meticulously aligned on top of each other, appears to show the moon making a small “shake” as it orbits, which McCarthy described as a “cosmic dance.”
The change also allows observers to see many of the moon’s craters from different angles and with different lights.
Posting the video on his Instagram, McCarthy wrote, “Over the past month, I’ve been working on my biggest project to date: an attempt to really show the unmistakable spherical nature of the moon.
‘By capturing a high-resolution image of the moon every night for 22 days, I captured the‘ hover ’, which is the apparent hesitation of our moon.
“Nestled in an eternal cosmic dance, this small jolt is caused by the angle of the Moon’s elliptical orbit and the position of the observer.
“The moon itself does not oscillate, it only orbits.
Due to the inclination and shape of its orbit, from Earth we see the Moon from slightly different angles over the course of a month.
When a month is compressed into 24 seconds, as in Andrew’s video, our changing view of the moon makes it seem hesitant.
“However, the side we see shifts a bit because the orbit is angular and elliptical, so you can see a bit of other sides depending on where you are in the sky relative to the observer.
“I’ve also expanded on some of my favorite features, where depth really comes to life.”
Andrew added that this was his most challenging project to date, and said: “I wanted to make that feeling whenever I got into astrophotography.
“The challenge is to have enough consecutive nights to get it.
“Some nights when conditions were ideal I could do it in 30 minutes, other nights I spent hours shooting waiting for conditions to improve.
“Bibliography is a known phenomenon, but I didn’t realize the dramatization of the difference.
Lunar photographer Andrew McCarthy spent hundreds of hours for 22 consecutive nights, taking thousands of photographs of the moon as it grew and then decreased for almost a full orbit.
Each final image that turned it into Andrew’s little music video is actually a mosaic gathered from hundreds of photos, in order to overcome any atmospheric “turbulence” that might distort an image.
“Many features, such as the Clavius crater, change completely in angle as the moon rotates them away from the observer.
“This really adds a level of depth to these features that I didn’t expect.”
Each final image that made her Andrew’s little music video is actually a mosaic gathered from hundreds of photos, in order to overcome any atmospheric “turbulence” that could distort an image.
Andrew said: “This project took hundreds of hours to complete and involved millions of frames and terabytes of data.
McCarthy said: “The work behind each frame was already great, so manually aligning each image and creating an animation that was smooth and showing the level of detail I wanted was a test. of patience “.
While “swinging” is a well-known phenomenon, the incredible images show how much the moon changes angle as it rotates.
“The work behind each frame was already great, so manually aligning each image and creating an animation that was fluid and showed the level of detail I wanted was a test of patience.
‘My favorite phases are usually in the waning part of the moon, which is also the hardest to capture.
“The marked contrast of the few complex and prominent craters such as Aristarchus and Copernicus against the soft Mary makes it a charming composition.”
SCIENTISTS DO NOT AGREE ON THE FORMATION OF THE MOON, BUT MANY BELIEVE IT WAS THE RESULT OF AN IMPACT BETWEEN EARTH AND ANOTHER PLANET
Many researchers believe the moon formed after the Earth was hit by a planet the size of Mars billions of years ago.
This is called a giant impact hypothesis.
The theory suggests that the moon is made up of leftover debris after a collision between our planet and a body about 4.5 billion years ago.
The crashing body is sometimes called Theia, in honor of the mythical Greek Titan who was the mother of Selene, the goddess of the moon.
Many researchers believe the moon formed after Earth was hit by a planet the size of Mars billions of years ago. This is called a giant impact hypothesis
But a mystery has persisted, revealed by the rocks that Apollo astronauts brought back from the Moon: why are the Moon and Earth so similar in their composition?
Over the years several different theories have emerged to explain the similar fingerprints of the Earth and the moon.
Perhaps the impact created a huge cloud of debris that completely mixed with the Earth and then condensed to form the moon.
Or Theia could have coincidentally been chemically similar to young Earth.
A third possibility is that the moon was formed from terrestrial materials, rather than from Theia, although this would have been a very unusual type of impact.