Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2020 December 2

                                 Eye of Moon
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Zachery Cooley

   Explanation: Who's watching who? The featured image of the Moon through
   a gap in a wall of rock may appear like a giant eye looking back at
   you. Although, in late October, it took only a single exposure to
   capture this visual double, it also took a lot of planning. The
   photographic goal was achieved by precise timing -- needed for a nearly
   full moon to appear through the eye-shaped arch, by precise locating --
   needed for the angular size of the Moon to fit iconically inside the
   rock arch, and by good luck -- needed for a clear sky and for the
   entire scheme to work. The seemingly coincidental juxtaposition was
   actually engineered with the help of three smartphone apps. The
   pictured sandstone arch, carved by erosion, is millions of years old
   and just one of thousands of natural rock arches that have been found
   in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, USA. Contrastingly, the
   pictured Moon can be found up in the sky from just about anywhere on
   Earth, about half the time.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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