The spooky facts about the sun and moon

Here’s a picture of the moon and the sun juxtaposed. They cycle between being the same size in our heavens and being a bit bigger or smaller than each other. It’s spooky.  Just the right size to deliver a total eclipse, or an annular one, depending on how they are feeling at the time. A proof of the existence of God if ever there was one. (Now for an explanation of cystic fibrosis).See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

To make this picture, the Full Moon on May 6 was photographed with the same camera and telescope used to image the Sun (with a dense solar filter!) on the following day. Of course, on May 6 the Moon was at perigee, the closest point to Earth in its eliptical orbit, making it the largest Full Moon of 2012. Two weeks later, on May 20, the Moon will be near apogee, the most distant point in its orbit, so by then it will be nearly at its smallest apparent size. It will also be a dark New Moon on that date. And for some the New Moon will be surprisingly easy to compare to the Sun, because on May 20 the first solar eclipse of 2012 will be visible from much of Asia, the Pacific, and North America. Along a path 240 to 300 kilometers wide, the eclipse will be annular. Near apogee the smaller silhouetted Moon will fit just inside the bright solar disk.

Here’s a picture of the moon and the sun juxtaposed. They cycle between being the same size in our heavens and being a bit bigger or smaller than each other. It’s spooky.  Just the right size to deliver a total eclipse, or an annular one, depending on how they are feeling at the time. A proof of the existence of God if ever there was one. (Now for an explanation of cystic fibrosis).

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RB
RB
11 years ago

Urmmm… so sometimes the moon is smaller than the sun, sometimes it’s bigger, sometimes it’s the same size, sometimes they’re (apparently) near each other from a certain perspective and once in a while they’re (apparently) really close and this is proof of God?

Not really leaving much room for doubt there.

Yobbo
11 years ago

2 things appearing to a human to be almost the same size proves the existence of god. You might be trying to be slightly ironic but sky fairy believers actually think this statement makes perfect sense.

john walker
john walker
11 years ago

Please if you are going to talk about religion could take the trouble to learn enough about it to be even roughly talking about it? Folk superstition is as common (perhaps more so) in non believers as in believers.

LJS
LJS
11 years ago

Heh I think people have been a bit quick to take the stick to Nick. I’m pretty sure his comment re: god was tongue in cheek – hence the aside about cystic fibrosis – and was a comment on the tendency to claim things we find wondrous/beautiful as the work of god, while avoiding comment on the miserable and ugly.

Pedro
Pedro
11 years ago

I think maybe there was a tongue pushing out a cheek somewhere at the end of the post.