                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2023 December 30

                             The Last Full Moon
                 Image Credit & Copyright: Giacomo Venturin

   Explanation: Known to some in the northern hemisphere as December's
   Cold Moon or the Long Night Moon, the last full moon of 2023 is rising
   in this surreal mountain and skyscape. The Daliesque scene was captured
   in a single exposure with a camera and long telephoto lens near Monte
   Grappa, Italy. The full moon is not melting, though. Its stretched and
   distorted appearance near the horizon is caused as refraction along the
   line of sight changes and creates shifting images or mirages of the
   bright lunar disk. The changes in atmospheric refraction correspond to
   atmospheric layers with sharply different temperatures and densities.
   Other effects of atmospheric refraction produced by the long sight-line
   to this full moon rising include the thin red rim seen faintly on the
   distorted lower edge of the Moon and a thin green rim along the top.

                        Tomorrow's picture: Illustris
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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