Moon Between the Stones
Credit & Copyright:
Philip Perkins
Despite clouds and rain showers astronomer Phillip Perkins managed
to spot a reddened,
eclipsed Moon between the stones of this
well known monument to the Sun during May's total lunar eclipse,
from Stonehenge, England.
When he recorded
this dramatic
picture, the rising Moon was
only about 5 degrees above the horizon, but conveniently
located through a gap in the
circle of ancient stones.
Although at first glance there appears to be an eerie,
luminous pool of water in the foreground, Perkins notes that his
daughter produced the artistic lighting effect.
She illuminated a fallen stone and surrounding grass with a
flashgun from her hiding place behind the large
sarsen
stone to the right of center.
As the picture looks toward the southeast, the stone just below
the Moon is one of the inner bluestones rather than
the famous Heel Stone, which marks the
northeast direction of the summer solstice
sunrise.