Moon & Venus Monday 30th December 2019

Is this the last visible moon of the year and decade?

Also, in the fourth photo, is this the last visible Venus of the year and decade? I checked an online resource (inthesky.org) and the very visible bright spot on the right of the photo should be Venus!

(first two / last two photos)
Time 15:36 / 17:03.
Distance 249,214 / 249,214 miles.
Waxing crescent / waxing crescent phase.
177 / 188 degrees S / S compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 21.2 / 25.1 degrees.

Not the Xmas Day Moon

I can't see a moon so here's one I prepared earlier, an excellent morning Moon.

Date Thursday 19th December 2019.
Time 09:21.
Distance 230,091 miles.
Waning crescent phase.
233 degrees SW compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 29.5 degrees.

Apollo 8 Santa Conspiracy!

51 years ago, 1968, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders became the:
FIRST astronauts to leave low Earth orbit,
FIRST astronauts to orbit the Moon,
FIRST humans to see (and photograph) an Earthrise.

They entered the Moon's orbit at 09:59 on Christmas Eve and left at 06:10 on Christmas Day!

This means that they MUST have seen Santa orbiting the Earth! But Santa is not in the famous Earthrise photo, which can only mean he must have been airbrushed out as part of a fiendish conspiracy theory!

Is this what the original photograph looked like?

Don't worry, nowadays you can track Santa on NORAD's official tracker.
https://www.noradsanta.org/

10,000 Moons!

A big spike in views on the 22nd took my blog's all-time number of views over 10,000! Wow, thanks!

A Week Of Moons - The Sequel Scenic Shots

The three photos from the 12th, 13th and 14th show the harsh reality of attempting to see the Moon in Britain. Not only the light pollution to contend with but also the cruel weather!

The photo from the 9th was taken with a small pocket camera, but the camera shake adds to the atmosphere of the photo!

Monday 9th

Thursday 12th

Friday 13th

Saturday 14th

A Week of Moons - The Sequel

Another week of Moons and this time we defeated the weather. Just. Look at the fuzziness on the last three days!

Sunday 8th December, 19:02
Distance 246,397 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
135 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 37.8 degrees.

Monday 9th December, 20:35
Distance 243,831 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
147 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 46.5 degrees.

Tuesday 10th December, 22:18
Distance 241,111 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
164 degrees S compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 53.9 degrees.

Wednesday 11th December, 20:37
Distance 238,448 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
114 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 41.6 degrees.

Thursday 12th December, 21:34
Distance 237,225 miles.
Full moon phase.
113 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 43.5 degrees.

Friday 13th December, 23:01
Distance 236,023 miles.
Waning gibbous phase.
120 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 47.9 degrees.

Saturday 14th December, 22:28
Distance 233,972 miles.
Waning gibbous phase.
99 degrees E compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 34.6 degrees.

A Week of Moons - Tilt!

Two photos on the same night; look at how much the Moon has tilted in just four hours!

A Week of Moons - Penn Moon

Also on Tuesday 3rd was a different location Moon in Penn. Penn has the advantage of being closer to the countryside so less light pollution.

Tuesday 3rd December, 19:48
Distance 250,475 miles.
Waxing crescent phase.
201 degrees S compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 20.9 degrees.

A Week of Moons - The Pretty Pictures

I managed to take two scenic views during 'the week of Moons'.

Tuesday 3rd was clear skies; Friday 6th was fast moving cloud so had to time the close-up photo!

A Week of Moons

Clear skies all this week so we had a week of Moons! Well, almost... except for Thursday when the weather defeated us!

All the photos were taken at roughly the same time in the evening, which gives us a great comparison of how the Moon rotates and the terminator moves along the surface.

Sunday 1st December, 17:41
Distance 246,530 miles.
Waxing crescent phase.
199 degrees S compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 14.6 degrees.

Monday 2nd December, 19:30
Distance 248,870 miles.
Waxing crescent phase.
213 degrees SW compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 13.7 degrees.

Tuesday 3rd December, 16:26
Distance 250,475 miles.
Waxing crescent phase.
158 degrees S compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 20.3 degrees.

Wednesday 4th December, 16:17
Distance 251,243 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
144 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 20.4 degrees.

Friday 6th December, 16:51
Distance 250,232 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
128 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 23.9 degrees.

Saturday 7th December, 17:38
Distance 248,595 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
127 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 28.8 degrees.

Moons Sunday 1st December 2019, Guest Moon!

The first Guest Moon on my blog!

It has been kindly submitted by Dave Simpson, the very talented guitarist.

Dave's photo was taken in Lincolnshire, about 150 miles from me.

So the question is, would Dave see a different Moon to us? Let's look at the data:

Time c.17:40.

Lincolnshire (Dave's photo):
Humidity & pressure: 86%, 1026 mbar
Distance 246,515 miles.
Waxing crescent phase.
200 degrees S compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 13.4 degrees.

My photo:
Humidity & pressure: 86%, 1026 mbar
Distance 246,530 miles.
Waxing crescent phase.
198 degrees S compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 14.6 degrees.

The angles (azimuth and altitude) would not make a (practical) difference to how we see the Moon.
The distance wouldn't have a difference either because of the huge scales involved.
The weather would make a difference beacuse it could affect the clarity and colour but, amazingingly, the weather was the same in both locations!

So, Dave would not see a different Moon to me!

Here are some links to Dave; check out his music, it's great!
https://www.youtube.com/user/oldhatguitars
https://goodgravy.co.uk
https://davesimpson.bandcamp.com
https://m.facebook.com/thedavesimpson
https://www.instagram.com/davesimpson1986/

Dave's Moon

My Moon