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                           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.   
      
                                   2024 March 11   
       Several images of a full moon setting are superposed. The moon images   
      are nearly white near the top, but turn orange and then are covered by   
      low clouds near the horizon. Unusually, the setting moon images line up   
      almost vertically. In the foreground is a beach with waves illuminated   
      by blue-glowing plankton. Please see the explanation for more detailed   
                                   information.   
      
                               A Full Plankton Moon   
         Credit & Copyright: Petr Hor+ílek / Institute of Physics in Opava   
      
      Explanation: What glows in the night? This night featured a combination   
      of usual and unusual glows. Perhaps the most usual glow was from the   
      Moon, a potentially familiar object. The full Moon's nearly vertical   
      descent results from the observer being near Earth's equator. As the   
      Moon sets, air and aerosols in Earth's atmosphere preferentially   
      scatter out blue light, making the Sun-reflecting satellite appear   
      reddish when near the horizon. Perhaps the most unusual glow was from   
      the bioluminescent plankton, likely less familiar objects. These   
      microscopic creatures glow blue, it is thought, primarily to surprise   
      and deter predators. In this case, the glow was caused primarily by   
      plankton-containing waves crashing onto the beach. The image was taken   
      on Soneva Fushi Island, Maldives just over one year ago.   
      
        Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?   
                                    (post 1995)   
                        Tomorrow's picture: horizon spiral   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
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