Moon, handheld
While in the yard enjoying the slightly warmer afternoon air and "shooting" common flypast birds I noticed the moon showing between some thin veils of wispy cloud - tried some handheld shots, of which this is one (very heavily adjusted) result. Nowhere near as clear as a "proper" tripod shot set up for the purpose after dark, but as an opportunist's grabshot trial, here it is. Shot using the same settings as for flying birds; most unsuitable for this sort of thing so this has been heavily processed to make it a "moon shot" that's recognisable as such.
Found myself wondering how it can be that the moon always presents the same face to the Earth and previously having noted that this has been seen elsewhere with other orbiting bodies and their planet-centric circling - concluded that it must be that their CofG must be eccentric from the sphere's geometric centre - and that this would naturally be inclined to "point" Earthwards because of that overriding gravity-influence. What other effect could cause a satellite's rotation to match exactly the orbital frequency of facing towards its parent-body?
Decided to do an inexpert check - found that indeed the moon's CofG is about 2km displaced from its centre. Taking photographs can sometimes lead to unlooked-for little bits of discovery.
Moon, handheld
While in the yard enjoying the slightly warmer afternoon air and "shooting" common flypast birds I noticed the moon showing between some thin veils of wispy cloud - tried some handheld shots, of which this is one (very heavily adjusted) result. Nowhere near as clear as a "proper" tripod shot set up for the purpose after dark, but as an opportunist's grabshot trial, here it is. Shot using the same settings as for flying birds; most unsuitable for this sort of thing so this has been heavily processed to make it a "moon shot" that's recognisable as such.
Found myself wondering how it can be that the moon always presents the same face to the Earth and previously having noted that this has been seen elsewhere with other orbiting bodies and their planet-centric circling - concluded that it must be that their CofG must be eccentric from the sphere's geometric centre - and that this would naturally be inclined to "point" Earthwards because of that overriding gravity-influence. What other effect could cause a satellite's rotation to match exactly the orbital frequency of facing towards its parent-body?
Decided to do an inexpert check - found that indeed the moon's CofG is about 2km displaced from its centre. Taking photographs can sometimes lead to unlooked-for little bits of discovery.