FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Re: Photos: Moon Rising and Planes Landing

["Jon Christensen" <jonc97@xxxxxxx>]

All really cool pictures, Tom.



Jon Christensen

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Polakis" <tpolakis@xxxxxxx>
To: <AZ-Observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 10:27 PM
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Photos: Moon Rising and Planes Landing


Many times in my 20 years of making the commute from Tempe to the 
intersection of 34th Street and Washington, I have watched airplanes pass 
near the rising or setting moon and thought, "hey, that would make a great 
photo!"  I have found that the best phase is just before or after Full Moon, 
when the lighting is right and the moon's altitude is low.  Ideally, the 
moon should be rising or setting south of due east, which contrains the time 
to range between April and August.

Unfortunately, the combination of the correct moon phase, clear skies, and 
free time never seem to converge.  Tonight, however, I got home from work, 
ran my desktop planetarium software, and realized the circumstances were 
going to be good at around 6:30 p.m.  I headed back to a site near the east 
end of the north runway.  A dirt lot along Air Lane between 40th St. and the 
lonely Route 153 freeway is popular among plane-spotters.

There was no shortage of air traffic.  Planes that appear larger than the 
moon in these photos are approaching the north runway, and those that are 
smaller are on final to the middle runway.  I used a 300mm lens on a Canon 
20D camera.

http://www.pbase.com/polakis/skyharbormoon

Tom

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