The full moon has a long aura of mystery and magic about it. Some say it triggers “wanderlust" -- a desire to travel, wander, or roam. Travel and new experiences offer empowerment, education, and opportunity, so I’m all-in for the Moon and its wanderlust charm. But our Moon is so much more. It plays a critical role in producing the environment required for life to thrive on Earth. If the Moon suddenly disappeared, the consequences for many forms of life would be devastating. Some species would die off and Earth’s weather and climate would be noticeably altered (https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/what-if-the-moon-disappeared-tomorrow). “The moon is the second-brightest regularly visible celestial object in Earth’s sky. As Genesis 1:16 says, “Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.” (https://www.icr.org/article/moon-required-for-life-on-earth). We all recognize that life on Earth would cease as we know it if the Sun stopped shining, and it’s similar with the Moon.

The April 2020 Supermoon -- the largest of the full Moons in 2020 – inspired me to turn my lens on it; and now, I’m a bit "moonstruck." Below, see my April 2020 Supermoon shot taken with my tripod-mounted, Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, 560mm (400 mm Canon lens with a 1.4 Canon extender), f/8, 1/50 sec, ISO 200. All my photos, including this one, are typically processed in Adobe Lightroom and/or Photoshop to adjust exposure and preserve the best image clarity possible. Keep reading for images of the June "Strawberry Moon", and illuminating facts from the experts at NASA about our essential night light – the Moon.

SuperMoon April 2020

If you set a single green pea next to a U.S. nickel, you'd have a pretty good idea of the size of the Moon compared to Earth. The April 2020 Supermoon looked a bit bigger through my lens. It was a beauty. NASA has great facts about the Moon and the history of Moon exploration (https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/earths-moon/overview/; https://moon.nasa.gov/exploration/history/). I’ve shared a few below, including NASA’s plans to create a permanent presence on the moon under its “Artemis” program. “The Artemis program will send the first woman and the next man to the Moon and develop a sustainable human presence on the Moon and set the stage for further human exploration at Mars. The program takes its name from the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the Moon in Greek mythology.  Among other things Artemis is the goddess of the wilderness, the hunt, and wild animals.

The leading theory of the Moon's origin is that a Mars-sized body collided with Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. The debris left by this collision formed our Moon 239,000 miles away. The newly formed Moon was in a molten state, but within about 100 million years, most of the molten material crystallized, with less-dense rocks floating upward and eventually forming the lunar crust.

• The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite.

• The Moon goes around the Earth at a distance of about 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers).

• More than 105 robotic spacecraft have been launched to explore the Moon.

• NASA currently has three robotic spacecraft exploring the Moon — Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the twin ARTEMIS spacecraft.

• So far, the Moon is the only celestial body beyond Earth visited by humans.

• Twenty-four humans have traveled from the Earth to the Moon, and twelve walked on the Moon’s surface.

• In 1972, the last human visited the Moon’s surface.

• NASA is gearing up to set up a permanent lunar presence on the Moon.

• We always see the same side of the Moon from Earth. You have to go into space to see the other side.

• Supermoons get their name because of how close they are to Earth (https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1198/the-next-full-moon-is-a-supermoon-pink-moon/

• There's a few other countries that attempted to land on the moon. Some have succeeded, some have failed. India and Israel tried to land on the moon, but failed. However, in 2019, China successfully landed a rover on the dark side of the moon. That's never been done before. NASA followed this big space news closely.

• The United States and USSR/Russia have by far had the most missions to the moon, followed by China.

In the 11 days leading up to the June 5, 2020 full moon (also called the “Strawberry Moon”), when conditions allowed, I photographed the moon each night. The Strawberry Moon doesn't refer to the color of the moon, rather it gets its name from a decades-old naming convention established by Indian tribes (see, https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1257/the-next-full-moon-is-the-strawberry-moon/). Some of the best shooting conditions were the days before the full Moon. Unfortunately, the weather was completely overcast on June 5, but I was able to shoot on June 6, when the Moon was 99% full (illuminated). Generally, I used the same settings as my April Supermoon shoot, except no tripod. Even with a longer exposure time, the tripod really made no difference in image clarity. If you have a steady hand and built strength to hoist and hold your 8-10-pound equipment a few times, you might find that a tripod is unnecessary. Hover over each image to see its date.

Enjoy these images and don’t forget to visit my other on-line galleries where you can safely and easily purchase prints and become a collector!

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June 3 2020

6-Jun-20