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At first glance, you’d be forgiven for mistaking this footage for a scene from the latest sci-fi blockbuster.
But it’s real and shows in dramatic detail how the moon “wobbles” in the sky during each 27-day orbit.
Lunar photographer Andrew McCarthy spent hundreds of hours for 22 consecutive nights, taking thousands of photos of the moon as it rose, then declined to almost a full orbit.
While the “ wobble, ” known as libration, is a well-known phenomenon, the incredible images show how much the moon changes angles as it rotates.
“The Moon always keeps us the same face, but not exactly the same face. Due to the tilt and shape of its orbit, we see the Moon from slightly different angles over the course of a month, ”says NASA.
“ When a month is compressed into 24 seconds, our shifting view of the Moon makes it appear as if it is wavering. This oscillation is called libration, from Libra, the balance.
Mr. McCarthy, based in California, United States, wanted to show for the first time the exact movement of the moon in the sky during a lunar month.
He said he was shocked to see how much the moon changes angles as it spins up close.
Its 40-second video clip, made up of thousands of images carefully lined up on top of each other, appears to show the moon “ moving ” during its orbit, which McCarthy described as a “ cosmic dance ” .
The shift also allows observers to see many of the moon’s craters from different angles and under different lights.
Posting the video on his Instagram, McCarthy wrote: ‘Over the past month, I’ve been working on my biggest project so far – an attempt to really show off the incomparable spherical nature of the moon.
“By capturing a high resolution image of the moon every night for 22 days, I captured the ‘libration’, which is the apparent oscillation of our moon.
“Locked in an eternal cosmic dance, this small movement is caused by the angle of the elliptical orbit of the Moon and the position of the observer.
“The moon itself isn’t actually wobbling, it’s just in orbit.
Due to the tilt 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 shifting vision of the Moon makes it appear as if it is wavering
“ However, the side we see changes a bit because the orbit is tilted and elliptical, so you can see a bit of other sides depending on where it is in the sky relative to the observer.
“I also zoomed in on some of my favorite features, where depth really comes to life.
Andrew added that it was his most difficult project to date, saying, “ I always wanted to make this sense that I got into astrophotography.
“The challenge is to have enough clear nights in a row to be successful.
“Some nights when the conditions were ideal I could do it in 30 minutes, other nights I spent hours photographing while waiting for the conditions to improve.
“Liberation is a known phenomenon, but I didn’t realize how dramatic the difference would be.
Lunar photographer Andrew McCarthy spent hundreds of hours for 22 consecutive nights, taking thousands of photos of the moon as it rose and then declined through almost a full orbit.
Each final frame that was part of Andrew’s short video clip is actually a mosaic stitched together from hundreds of photos – in order to overcome any atmospheric “ turbulence ” that might distort an image.
Many features, such as the Clavius Crater, change their angle completely as the moon moves them away from the observer.
“It really adds a level of depth to these features that I didn’t expect.
Each final frame that was part of Andrew’s short video clip is actually a mosaic stitched together from hundreds of photos – to overcome any atmospheric “ turbulence ” that might distort an image.
Andrew said: “This project took hundreds of hours and involved millions of images and terabytes of data.
Mr McCarthy said: ‘The work involved behind each frame was already extensive, so manually aligning each frame and creating an animation that was smooth and showing the level of detail I wanted was a test of patience.
Although ‘flickering’ is a well-known phenomenon, the incredible images show how much the moon changes angles as it rotates
“ The work involved behind each frame was already extensive, so manually aligning each frame and creating an animation that was smooth and showing the level of detail I wanted was a test of patience.
“My favorite phases are usually on the waning side of the moon, which is also the hardest to capture.
“The striking contrast between the few complex and prominent craters such as Aristarchus and Copernicus against the gentle Maria gives a beautiful 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 Earth was hit by a planet the size of Mars billions of years ago.
This is called the giant impact hypothesis.
The theory suggests that the moon is made up of debris left over from a collision between our planet and a body about 4.5 billion years ago.
The colliding body is sometimes referred to as Theia, named after the mythical Greek Titan who was the mother of Selene, the moon goddess.
Many researchers believe the moon formed after Earth was hit by a planet the size of Mars billions of years ago. This is called the giant impact hypothesis
But a mystery persisted, revealed by the rocks Apollo astronauts brought back from the moon: Why are the moon and Earth so similar in composition?
Several different theories have emerged over the years to explain the similar fingerprints of the Earth and the Moon.
Perhaps the impact created a huge cloud of debris that mixed completely with the Earth, then later condensed to form the moon.
Or Theia could, coincidentally, have been chemically similar to young Earth.
A third possibility is that the moon formed from terrestrial material, rather than from Theia, although this would have been a very unusual type of impact.
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