                        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.

                                2025 June 20

                      Major Lunar Standstill 2024-2025
            Image Credit & Copyright: Luca Vanzella, Alister Ling

   Explanation: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, planet Earth lies on the
   horizon. in this stack of panoramic composite images. In a monthly time
   series arranged vertically top to bottom the ambitious photographic
   project follows the annual north-south swing of sunrise points, from
   June solstice to December solstice and back again. It also follows the
   corresponding, but definitely harder to track, Full Moon rise. Of
   course, the north-south swing of moonrise runs opposite sunrise along
   the horizon. But these rising Full Moons also span a wider range on the
   horizon than the sunrises. That's because the well-planned project (as
   shown in this video) covers the period June 2024 to June 2025, centered
   on a major lunar standstill. Major lunar standstills represent extremes
   in the north-south range of moonrise driven by the 18.6 year precession
   period of the lunar orbit.

                        Tomorrow's picture: solstice
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

