June 4, 2007: Shuttle shadow

[Undertoad]

It's the Monday Neatorama image collaboration!



Yesterday's Astronomy Pic of the Day was an absolute stunner, as above. It's a little confusing. The shadow from the plume of smoke from the shuttle launch is pointing at the moon.

The ApoD explains:

In early 2001 during a launch of Atlantis, the Sun, Earth, Moon, and rocket were all properly aligned for this photogenic coincidence. First, for the space shuttle's plume to cast a long shadow, the time of day must be either near sunrise or sunset. Next, just at sunset, the shadow is the longest and extends all the way to the horizon. Finally, during a Full Moon, the Sun and Moon are on opposite sides of the sky. Just after sunset, for example, the Sun is slightly below the horizon, and, in the other direction, the Moon is slightly above the horizon. Therefore, as Atlantis blasted off, just after sunset, its shadow projected away from the Sun toward the opposite horizon, where the Full Moon just happened to be.

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