Crescent Moon and Mont Canigou
August 22, 2013
Photographer: Bruno Carrias
Summary Authors: Bruno Carrias; Jim Foster
The photo above showing a brilliant crescent Moon above Mont Canigou in the Pyrenees Mountains was taken just after sundown from Sainte-Victoire mountain, France, some 173 mi (278 km) distant. Usually, Mont Canigou, at 9,134 ft (2,784 m), is too far away to be seen from my location. But if the atmosphere is exceptionally clear the higher Pyrenees summits (greater than about 5,250 ft or 1.6 km in elevation) can be observed. Approximately four-fifths of the distance from Sainte-Victoire to Canigou is over the Mediterranean Sea. When the seawater is colder than the air, as it most often is during the summer season, sunlight traveling through the lower atmosphere will be refracted downward. The result is that the image of a distant object, in this case a mountain range, is displaced upward. Photo taken on August 11, 2013.
Photo details: Camera Maker: Panasonic; Camera Model: DMC-TZ3; Focal Length: 46.0mm (35mm equivalent: 420mm); Aperture: f/4.9; Exposure Time: 0.067 s (1/15); ISO equiv: 100; Software: GIMP 2.6.11.