On the face of it, you’d be forgiven for mistaking this footage for a scene from the latest science fiction blockbuster.
But it is very, very real, and shows in dramatic detail, how much the moon “wobbles” in the sky during each 27-day orbit.
Moon photographer Andrew McCarthy spent hundreds of hours on 22 consecutive nights, taking thousands of photos of the moon as it waxed and then drifted off by nearly full orbit.
Although the ‘wobble’, known as libration, is a well-known phenomenon, the incredible images show how much the angle of the moon changes as it rotates.
The moon always holds the same face in front of us, but not exactly the same face. Because of the tilt and shape of its orbit, we see the moon from slightly different angles over the course of a month, ‘explains NASA.
When a month is compressed to 24 seconds, our changing image of the moon seems to wobble. This wobble is called librating, from libra, the scale. ‘
Based in California, USA, Mr. McCarthy wanted to show for the first time the exact movement of the moon in the sky over the course of a lunar month.
He said he was shocked to see up close how much the angle of the moon changes as it rotates.
His 40-second video clip, consisting of thousands of images meticulously aligned, seems to show the moon ‘wobbling’ a bit as it spins, which McCarthy described as a ‘cosmic dance’.
The shift also allows observers to view many of the lunar craters from different angles and in different lights.
McCarthy posted the video to his Instagram, writing, ‘For the past month, I’ve been working on my biggest project to date – an attempt to really show off the unmistakably spherical nature of the moon.
By capturing a high-resolution image of the moon every night for 22 days, I captured the “libration,” the apparent wobble of our moon.
Locked in an eternal cosmic dance, this little wobble is caused by the angle of the moon’s elliptical orbit and the position of the observer.
‘The moon itself doesn’t wobble, it just spins.
Due to the tilt and shape of its orbit, we see the Moon from slightly different angles from Earth over the course of a month
When a month is compressed to 24 seconds, as in Andrew’s video, our changing view of the moon makes it seem like it’s wobbling
However, the side we see shifts a bit because the orbit is angular and elliptical, so you can see a little bit from the other sides depending on where it is in the sky relative to the observer.
“I’ve also zoomed in on some of my favorite features, where the depth really comes to life.”
Andrew added that this was his most challenging project to date, saying, ‘I wanted to do this someday when I got into astrophotography.
‘The challenge is to have enough clear nights in a row to get it done.
‘Some nights with ideal conditions I could get it done in 30 minutes, other nights I spent hours shooting, waiting for conditions to improve.
‘Libration is a well-known phenomenon, but I didn’t realize how dramatic the difference would be.
Moon photographer Andrew McCarthy spent hundreds of hours on 22 consecutive nights, taking thousands of photos of the moon as it waxed and then drifted off by nearly full orbit
Every last image made in Andrew’s short video clip is actually a mosaic composed of hundreds of photos – to get past any atmospheric ‘turbulence’ that could distort an image
Many elements, such as the Clavius crater, completely change their angle as the moon turns them away from the observer.
“This really adds a level of depth to these features that I was not expecting.”
Every last image made in Andrew’s short video clip is actually a mosaic composed of hundreds of photos – to get past any atmospheric ‘turbulence’ that could distort an image.
Andrew said, “This project took hundreds of hours and involved millions of frames and terabytes of data.
Mr McCarthy said: ‘The work behind each frame was already great, so hand-aligning each frame and creating an animation that was smooth and showed the level of detail I wanted was an ordeal of patience’
Although the ‘wobble’ is a well-known phenomenon, the incredible images show how much the angle of the moon changes as it rotates
The work behind each frame was already great, so aligning each image by hand and creating an animation that was smooth and showed the level of detail I wanted was a test of patience.
My favorite phases are generally on the waning side of the moon, which is also the hardest to capture.
‘The stark contrast in the few complex prominent craters such as Aristarchus and Copernicus against the smooth Maria makes for a beautiful composition.’
SCIENTISTS DON’T AGREE ON HOW THE MOON WAS FORMED, BUT MANY BELIEVE IT WAS THE RESULT OF AN IMPACT BETWEEN THE EARTH AND ANOTHER PLANET
Many researchers believe that the Moon was created after Earth was hit by a planet the size of Mars billions of years ago.
This is called the giant impact hypothesis.
The theory suggests that the moon is made up of debris left over from a collision between our planet and a body about 4.5 billion years ago.
The colliding body is sometimes called Theia, after the mythical Greek Titan who was the mother of Selene, the goddess of the moon.
Many researchers believe the Moon was created after Earth was hit by a planet the size of Mars billions of years ago. This is called the giant impact hypothesis
But one mystery has persisted, revealed by rocks brought back from the moon by the Apollo astronauts: Why are the Moon and Earth so similar in composition?
Over the years, several theories have emerged to explain the similar fingerprints of the Earth and Moon.
Perhaps the impact created a huge cloud of debris that thoroughly mixed with the Earth and later condensed to form the moon.
Or Theia could, coincidentally, be chemically similar to the young Earth.
A third possibility is that the Moon was formed from earthen materials, rather than from Theia, although this would have been a very unusual type of impact.