Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy has pleased all fans of his work with an impressive new image. He captured the waxing moon.
The image was captured on February 13, 2024, when the lunar disk was illuminated by 20%. It is composite. It took about 25,000 individual images to create the photo, which were then manually “stitched” and layered to get the maximum possible detail and dynamic range. The full image resolution is 114 megapixels.
It can be noted that on the dark side of the Moon, the outlines of the seas and the largest craters are still visible. This phenomenon is sometimes called the Da Vinci glow. It is explained by the fact that the light reflected from the earth’s surface highlights the Moon. This effect is best seen a few days before, or a few days after, the new moon.
When looking at the moon, it is quite easy to determine whether it is waxing or waning. To do this, the following rule is used in the Northern Hemisphere. If you put an imaginary stick to the left of the Moon and get the letter “D”, then the Moon is waxing. If the lunar disk looks like the letter “C”, then it’s a waning moon (i.e. decreasing). In the southern hemisphere, the opposite is true. The letter “C” corresponds to the waxing Moon, the letter “D” to the waning one.
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