Near Double Moonrise
by Dan Heim
Photographer Comments:
Canon EOS 20D, full auto
March 2nd, 2007, New River, AZ
Gavilan Peak, a prominent landmark in New River, sits just east
of my home and blocks about 30 vertical degrees of sky. It
occurred to me that, on occasion, it might be possible to witness
a double moonrise or sunrise if the ascending path intersected
the mountain just right. SkyGlobe (my digital planetarium) allows
the local horizon to be input and overlaid on the display, so
when either the Sun or Moon is rising near the north slope, I can
check for a possible "double rising." This one was the
closest yet. I shot a series of 9 images at one-minute intervals,
and strung them together for this animation. As you can see, the
ascending path is just a bit too steep, but I'll keep trying.