Summer Solstice Moon Redux

As seen on Astronomy Picture Of the Day. From the photographer: “The full Moon of 21-22 June 2024 was at its lowest and most southerly point in its 18.6-year cycle, with the full Moon happening as far south as -29 degrees of declination, also known as Lunar standstill.

The weather and sky conditions were cooperative that night and I set up a camera with a fisheye lens on the rooftop of our building, to photograph the full Moon staying its lowest possible in our skies. This picture shows the Moon drifting over the southern horizon, staying low in the sky. I photographed the Moon every 10 minutes from moonrise until moonset, which happened at 2140 and 0437 GMT+3 respectively. The Moon stayed over our horizon for only 6 hours and 57 minutes, rising less than 22 degrees at local midnight in Bursa, on latitude 40d N.

The southern horizon is shaped by Uludağ located south and southeast of Bursa and rising as high as 2543 meters blocks. About 8 degrees of sky is blocked by the mountain due southeast and a closer hill due south blocks more than 12 degrees. As a result, this low full Moon did not get much higher above the southern horizon any time in the night.

One cycle earlier, the full Moon of 21-22 June 2005 was at the southernmost declination, and I had photographed its low path in the sky from the very same spot.”