Bright Outliers on Crescent Moon - An Unusual Coincidence
Taken by Peter Lowenstein on June 7, 2016 @
Mutare, Zimbabwe
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Details:
On 09 June I posted a contribution entitled Crescent Moon with Bright Outliers (id=126423). Later when browsing the Space Weather Gallery I came across a photograph of the same crescent moon taken on 07 June and posted a few hours earlier by Leo Caldas from Brasilia (id=126417).
What is very interesting is that a similar bright spot to that in my photos of 07 June appears in the picture taken by Leo on the same date. Bright outliers on the crescent Moon appear to be uncommon as I had not seen them before and they are only present in very few images on the Internet.
I therefore downloaded Leo's photograph and enlarged and slightly rotated it using Photoshop so that the permanent features visible on the dark side of the Moon in his image register with those on mine and the bright spot is in exactly the same place! (see accompanying image comparisons).
The reason for the appearance of the bright outliers is uncertain but I am wondering if lunar libration could be responsible and that they are only visible when features particularly favorable for the reflection of sunlight are brought into exactly the right alignment to do so? The latitude of Mutare (-18.98) is also similar to Brasilia (-15.47) and our pictures appear to have been taken when the moon was at a similar elevation, so I am wondering if this has contributed to the coincidence?
It is also amazing that something that is not often recorded should have been independently photographed by two observers situated in different continents and then posted to the Space Weather Gallery just a few hours apart! Thanks to Leo for the use of his photograph.
Photographer's website:
No URL provided.
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