A Skygazer's Full Moon 
Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler 

Click on the above photo for a larger version of the image.

This dramatically sharp picture of the Full Moon was recorded on 22 December, 1999 by astroimager Rob Gendler. A symbol in famous love songs, movies, poems, and folklore, many myths about the Moon date back to ancient history. In fact, the name Monday originates from Moon-day. The Moon glows by light it reflects from the Sun and is frequently the brightest object in the night sky. The Moon orbits the Earth about once a month (Moon-th) from about 1 light second away. The above-pictured Full Moon occurs when the Moon is nearly opposite to the Sun in its orbit. The Moon's diameter is about 1/4 that of the Earth, and from the Earth's surface appears to have almost exactly the same angular size as the Sun. Recent evidence indicates that the Moon formed from a colossal impact on the Earth about 4.5 billions of years ago, and therefore has a similar composition to the Earth. Humans walked on the Moon for the first time in 1969. 

You can find this photo and other exciting images on the Astronomy Picture of the Day web site. Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.