Path of the autumn waxing moon, Alberta, Canada.
A composite image depicting the path and position of the low waxing crescent moon of autumn across the southwest evening sky over five nights, September 30 to October 4, 2019. The ecliptic, the blue line, is always low in the sky at this time of year, placing the moon and planets low as well in the evening twilight. This was photographed in southern Alberta, Canada at latitude 50 degrees North. Earthshine is just visible on the dark side of the moon in the later images. The base panorama image of the sky and landscape is from Oct 1, which also provides the moon image second from the right. The Sept 30 (farthest to the right), plus Oct 2, Oct 3 and Oct 4 moons (to the left, from R to L) are added in with separate exposures taken from exactly the same spot and with the same camera and lens on the other nights, with those images layered and masked into the Oct 1 sky. The moon positions are close to the actual positions relative to the horizon and to Jupiter, bright at left. The ecliptic line looks straight but is actually a shallow curving arc. The ecliptic line is correctly placed below the moon, as the moon's path does not coincide with the ecliptic but is tilted 5 degree to the ecliptic and it was above the ecliptic on most of these nights, but approached and crossed the ecliptic on Oct. 4. Jupiter, however, is on the ecliptic. Antares and the stars of Scorpius are also visible in the deep twilight.
Size: 7350px × 3484px
Location: Alberta, Canada
Photo credit: © Alan Dyer/Stocktrek Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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