Image:Lunar libration with phase2.gif

[edit] Summary

Description	Picture of the Year 2006 Finalist English: Lunar libration see below for more descriptions
Source	English Wikipedia, original upload 7 September 2005 by Tomruen [1]
Date	2006-00-00 (published on Commons)
Author	Tomruen
Permission	see below
Other versions	Image:Lunation animation April 2007.gif (April 2007 animation, 60 frames, no phase shown)

[edit] Licensing

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law. Afrikaans | Alemannisch | Aragonés | العربية‎ | Български | Català | Česky | Cymraeg | Dansk | Deutsch | Ελληνικά | English | Español | Esperanto | Euskara | فارسی‎ | Français | Galego | 한국어 | हिन्दी | Hrvatski | Ido | Bahasa Indonesia | Íslenska | Italiano | עברית‎ | Kurdî / كوردي | Latina | Lietuvių | Magyar | Bahasa Melayu | Nederlands | Norsk (bokmål) | Norsk (nynorsk) | 日本語 | Polski | Português | Ripoarish | Română | Русский | Shqip | Slovenčina | Slovenščina | Српски | Svenska | ไทย | Türkçe | Українська | Tiếng Việt | Walon | 简体中文 | 繁體中文 | 粵語 | +/-

[edit] Technical

• Book: "Astronomical Formulae for Calculators, 4th edition", Jean Meeus, 1988, published by "Willmann-Bell, Inc"
  • Chapter 30 "Position of the Moon"

Source bitmap for projection from NRL's Clementine Spacecraft:

• USGS: Global simple cylindrical projection at 10 km/pixel.

• Animation
  • 50 frames were created, equally spaced in time.
  • Period used: 27.21222 days (Draconic month of nodes)
  • Animation began and ended at Apogee to minimize "jumping" when cycles back to the start.
  • New moon given an unreal 1% intensity "Ambient light" to show motion in all phases.
  • View assumed from the center of the earth. (Geometrically impossible, but best demonstration of monthly libration caused by moon's motion versus the shorter daily libration that would be included from the surface of the earth.)

[edit] Astronomical events

• Sept 1, 2:23 UT - Apogee - Moon farthest from earth's center [Cancer]
• Sept 3, 1:48 UT - New Moon [Leo]
• Sept 6, 10:53 UT - Descending Node - On ecliptic circle, heading north to south. [Virgo]
• Sept 11, 11:40 UT - First Quarter - Rises around noon, and at zenith near sunset [Scorpio]
• Sept 13, 6:21 UT - Southern Limit - At farthest ecliptic south of the moon's orbit. [Sagittarius]
  • Also near farthest south declination as well.
• Sept 16, 13:54 UT - Perigee - Closest point on orbit to earth's center. [Aquarius]
• Sept 18, 2:04 UT - Full Moon - A "large and southern" moon up all night! [Pisces]
• Sept 18, 8:11 UT - Ascending Node - On ecliptic, heading south to north. [Pisces]
• Sept 25, 6:44 UT - Third Quarter - Rises after midnight, near zenith around sunrise. [Gemini]
• Sep 26, 5:17 UT - Northern Limit - At farthest ecliptic north point of the moon's orbit. [Gemini]
  • Also near farthest north declination as well.
• Sep 28, 15:31 UT - Apogee - Farthest point on orbit from earth's center. [Cancer]

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This image was selected as a picture of the day for August 9, 2006. It was captioned as followed: English: Lunar libration Deutsch: Der Mond in seinen unterschiedlichen Phasen. Français : Les différentes phases de la Lune Español: Fases y libración de la Luna. العربية: الهلال لحظة تكوينه Cymraeg: Gweddau'r Lleuad. Deutsch: Der Mond in seinen unterschiedlichen Phasen. English: Lunar libration Español: Fases y libración de la Luna. Français : Les différentes phases de la Lune Gaeilge: Guagadh na Gealaí. Galego: Fases da lúa e oscilación lunar Magyar : A Hold librációja (ciklikus imbolygása) Italiano: Le librazioni e le fasi lunari. 日本語: 月の秤動 ‪Norsk (bokmål)‬: Månens faser. ‪Norsk (nynorsk)‬: Månefasane Polski: Animacja ukazująca Księżyc we wszystkich fazach. Português: Animação representando as fases da lua Русский: Либрация Луны Slovenčina: Librácia Mesiaca Svenska: Månens librationer Türkçe: Ayın evreleri 简体中文: 月相变化 Bân-lâm-gú: Ge̍h-niû tī-leh piàn-hòa ê kè-thêng tang-tiong, lán lâng só· koan-chhek tio̍h ê thian-bûn hiān-siōng.