Astronomical Limits

The Moon and Sun at their astronomical limits—opposite each other in the morning sky. The night of March 19th–20th brought us a "Super Full Moon," meaning that the Moon was full when it reached perigee—it's closest approach to Earth in its orbit—making it appear super large.

After studying the maps of Rhode Island I determined that this was the only point in the state that you could view both the Moon and the Sun in the sky together—on the horizon—at the moment of sunrise on the morning of March 20th. They shared the sky together for just a couple of minutes. The Moon slipped below the horizon just after the Sun rose. This was taken on the spit of land leading to the lighthouse in Watch Hill, Rhode Island.

Visible in this photograph from the Sun turning to the right (and you have to look closely) are Block Island (just to the right of the Sun). Just to the left of the lighthouse is Montauk Point, NY. To the right of the lighthouse is Fishers Island, NY. The Moon is over Long Island Sound and the land to the right of the Moon is the Connecticut shore and then comes Nappatree Point in Rhode Island and Watch Hill proper.

I was very lucky that we had such clear weather. I had intended to shoot again on the morning of the 21st as the Moon and Sun would share the sky for about 20 minutes but when I checked the sky at 4:00 AM it was completely overcast and Monday morning brought rain and snow once again.

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USA-Canada / USA-Rhode Island

Lat: 41° 18' 18.77" N
Long: 72° 52' 28.56" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

Nikon D300s, 10.5mm lens, Nodal Ninja, PTGui, Pano2VR