MAY 7, 2020
Analemma of the Moon
EXPLANATION
An analemma
is that figure-8 curve you get when you mark
the position of the Sun at the same
time each day for one year.
But the trick to imaging an
analemma of the Moon is to wait bit
longer.
On average the
Moon returns
to the same position in the sky
about 50 minutes and 29 seconds later each day.
So photograph the Moon 50 minutes 29 seconds
later on successive days.
Over one lunation or lunar month it will trace out an analemma-like curve
as the Moon’s actual position wanders due to
its tilted and elliptical orbit.
To create this composite image of a lunar analemma,
astronomer Gyorgy Soponyai chose a lunar month
from March 26 to April 18 with a good stretch of weather
and a site close to home near Mogyorod, Hungary.
Crescent lunar phases too thin and faint to capture
around the New Moon are missing though.
Facing southwest, the lights of
Budapest
are in the distance of the base image taken on March 27.
Image Credit & Copyright
