Greek Moonrise

The Full Moon rises above a heritage of ancient Greece in this animated series of images. Summer solstice marks the northernmost point of the Sun’s annual motion through planet Earth’s sky and the astronomical beginning of the northern hemisphere’s summer. But on 2008 June 18, only two days before the summer solstice, the Full Moon nearest the solstice rose close to the ecliptic plane opposite the Sun, near its southernmost point for the year. The photographer recorded these images of the solstice Full Moon rising above Cape Sounion, Greece. The twenty-four hundred year old Temple of Poseidon lies in the foreground, also visible to sailors on the Aegean Sea.