Solstice Dawn and Full Moonset
Image Credit &
Copyright:
Laurie Hatch
A Full Moon sets as the Solstice Sun rises in this June 20 dawn skyscape.
Captured from a nearby
peak in central California, planet Earth,
the scene looks across the summit of Mount Hamilton and
Lick Observatory
domes on a calendar date that marks an astronomical
change of seasons and
hemispherical
extremes of daylight hours.
Earth's shadow stretches toward the Santa Cruz Mountains on
the western horizon.
Just above the atmospheric grey shadowband is a more
colorful anti-twilight arch, a
band of reddened, backscattered sunlight also known as the
Belt of Venus.
The interplay of solstice dates and lunar months does
make this solstice and Full Moon a rare match-up.
The next June solstice and Full Moon
will fall on the same calendar date on June 21, 2062.