North Pole, Moon, Sun

This was sent to me recently by a friend. Location - @ North pole, our Moon at closest approach. I have no other information about this image.

Attached Image:

Cool picture!

Hi Brett:

That is a very cool image, but I think it must be a Photoshop collage. The moon and sun typically have about the same angular diameter when viewed from earth (about 30 arc minutes each). These angular diameters, (particularly the moon's) vary a bit as we get closer or farther away in our eccentric orbits. That is why sometimes a solar eclipse is annular and sometimes it is absolutely total. I do not think that the angular size of the moon ever comes close to varying as dramatically as the photo would suggest.

Amazingly, Snopes, my go-to source for political urban legends already has an article about this photo. They don't have a conclusion yet though.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/northpole.asp

- Jim -

A beautiful image, indeed. My wild guess is that it's a picture of the summer night sun at some arctic location (but not the North Pole, with so broad an expanse of liquid water and a horizon that looks like some land masses rather than ice), and that the "moon" is the partially illuminated bottom cowl of the jet plane that brought the photographer to this location). Still, it's pretty enough.

Or - perhapse it was taken many million years ago??? Nice composition.

Great composition... 8)