The Night Sky

[Susie]

Thanks Guy and Jack.

I can see the moon here, looks lovely.

[millerd]

Saw the moon rise (very orange-red) from the M1, heading south near J.14. It certainly looked larger than usual, even allowing for horizon effects.

I share Jack's annoyance with misrepresentations of the moon. It happens in novels too - crescent moons high in the sky at midnight and similar nonsense.

Dave

[Dave McCormick]

I did see the moon earlier when checking my moth trap I had out in garden, it was brief due to cloud but it did look lower than usual and slightly bigger. I somehow remember the last time the moon looked that big back in 1992, I remembered at sunset seeing a large reddish-orange moon appearing and remember being told it was a "Harvest moon" or something to that, was only 5 at the time though, remember it looked awesome then as the sky was clear and I was with my grandad somewhere in the country when it was rising.

[Lee Hurrell]

We were on the A217 and A219 past Cirencester (between the M5 and M4) watching the moon rise whilst on the way home last night.

I don't remember such a stunning view, it was large in the sky and we watched it go from red, through orange to yellow and finally white.

Cheers

Lee

[Dave McCormick]

Just looked out the window and saw the moon and had to get a shot. BT were here today and removed two sycamore trees from top of the hill in front of my house as they were touching telephone wires (doesn't matter to me since sycamore isn't native and supports less wildlife than other trees in Ireland) but it allowed me to get this shot of the moon which looked dark and big.

BTW, I noticed there was a dot near the moon (see the tiny dot on lower far left of moon, you can see it better on second image) that seemed to moved around it as I took another photo and it was below the moon, anyone know what it is?

Deep Moon

Dot near moon

[Jack Harrison]

Dave.

Were your Moon pictures taken through a window? That could explain the artifact. If not, then I would suggest an internal reflection within the lens itself.

Whatever the reason, it's not real (ie I don't think our moon has spawned a new satellite )

Jack

[Dave McCormick]

Dave.

Were your Moon pictures taken through a window? That could explain the artifact. If not, then I would suggest an internal reflection within the lens itself.

Whatever the reason, it's not real (ie I don't think our moon has spawned a new satellite )

Jack

Nope, I took it outside, I took a few more pics just now with the camera and lens attached to see if it would show up this dot, it didn't so either it was actually there in the sky or something weird happened cause its not on the camera or lens. If it was on there, how come in this shot, the dot is below the moon and taken on only a few mins after the one above? I didn't move the camera when taking these images. Don't know what was going on with the dot. Excuse these shots were not so good

Moon 2

Moon 3

[Jack Harrison]

Perhaps an artificial satellite such as the International Space Station. That would have a steady direct movement and wouldn't be random.

Satellite watching website: http://www.heavens-above.com/

You might be able to search for past times/dates from some other source and then cross check against time you took your pictures.

Jack

[Lee Hurrell]

Why would it be red though? Could it not be Jupiter?

Cheers

Lee

[Jack Harrison]

Certainly not Jupiter - that's on the far side of the sun at present.

The redness is undoubtedly an atmospheric effect; after all the moon in those pictures had a decidedly reddish hue.

Jack

[Lee Hurrell]

Thanks Jack

T'was just an idea from a non astronomic.

Cheers

Lee

[Dave McCormick]

Jack, thanks for the link, could be one of the satellites on that link, checked the times. It wasn't Jupiter though but I am not an "astronut" and don't know a whole lot about the position of the planets, only know where some constellations and the north star are.

[Padfield]

The motion is too fast for the object to belong to the 'fixed' background of stars and planets. The moon moves 360 degrees through the sky in approximately 27-28 days. This amounts to a little over half a degree an hour - i.e., the moon covers very roughly its own diameter through the sky in an hour. Any fixed star or planet will appear to pass it at this speed.

I agree with Jack's analysis.

Guy