APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Major Lunar Standstill 2024-2025
Explanation: Edmonton , Alberta, Canada, planet Earth lies on the horizon in this stack of panoramic composite images. In a monthly time series arranged vertically top to bottom the ambitious photographic project follows the annual north-south swing of sunrise points, from June solstice to December solstice and back again. It also follows the corresponding, but definitely harder to track, Full Moon rise. Of course, the north-south swing of moonrise runs opposite sunrise along the horizon. But these rising Full Moons also span a wider range on the horizon than the sunrises. That's because the well-planned project ( as shown in this video ) covers the period June 2024 to June 2025 , centered on a major lunar standstill. Major lunar standstills represent extremes in the north-south range of moonrise driven by the 18.6 year precession period of the lunar orbit.
| Date | June 20, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit & Copyright: Luca Vanzella , Alister Ling |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |




