Clair de Lune (Moonlight)

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Ron Schmit
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Clair de Lune (Moonlight)

Post by Ron Schmit »

Most of you will instantly recognize the song Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy. It shows up in lots of movies and somnolent videos: quiet, contemplative, and slightly melancholy, evoking the feeling of a solitary walk through a moonlit garden. Appropriate since the name translates to "moonlight" in French.

Using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), NASA Goddard put together this lovely stroll of the terminator across the lunar surface. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNpsy6lBPBw
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Dick Jacobson
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Re: Clair de Lune (Moonlight)

Post by Dick Jacobson »

Wonderful! The music is perfect for the video. Thanks for posting.
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markjob
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Re: Clair de Lune (Moonlight)

Post by markjob »

FABULOUS!
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Sureshks
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Re: Clair de Lune (Moonlight)

Post by Sureshks »

Hi Ron,

This is really amazing. I'm going to steal it... thanks!

Suresh
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setnes
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Re: Clair de Lune (Moonlight)

Post by setnes »

It hurts my brain when I watch this and know that it's an animation based on a 3D model, and not real images.
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Deane Clark
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Re: Clair de Lune (Moonlight)

Post by Deane Clark »

I can’t tell the difference. It’s just beautiful! And no swimming pool seeing getting in the way :)
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Dick Jacobson
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Re: Clair de Lune (Moonlight)

Post by Dick Jacobson »

setnes wrote:
> It hurts my brain when I watch this and know that it's an animation based
> on a 3D model, and not real images.
Thanks for the explanation, Kris! Yesterday my wife Helen and I were discussing how an orbiting spacecraft could possibly make such a smooth sequence of terminator images. I didn't think it was possible to put together such a smooth video based on one orbital flyover every two hours. Turns out, it looks like I was right. I think it could be done "honestly" by a spacecraft parked at the Earth-Moon Lagrange point.

However it was done, the results are fabulous!
30-inch homemade Newtonian with periscope
20-inch homemade equatorial Newtonian with periscope
14-inch homemade equatorial Newtonian
10-inch Newtonian that folds flat
6-inch Russian Maksutov-Newtonian on Vixen equatorial mount
Too many small scopes and binoculars to mention
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Ron Schmit
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Re: Clair de Lune (Moonlight)

Post by Ron Schmit »

Using the same LRO data set, they were able to recreate what the Apollo 13 astronauts saw out the window as they passed the Moon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilifg26TZrI
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Ron Schmit
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Re: Clair de Lune (Moonlight)

Post by Ron Schmit »

For those of you who attended Dave Falkner's EXCELLENT BSIG presentation on The Moon today, here is the video I mentioned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNpsy6lBPBw

Using data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), they assemble a 3D model of the Moon and provide us an entirely different perspective on the Moon; one we could only enjoy onboard a ship of the imagination.
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Dick Jacobson
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Re: Clair de Lune (Moonlight)

Post by Dick Jacobson »

How long will it be before the Moon is defaced forever by bulldozers? The current enthusiasm for lunar exploitation worries me. The Moon is a beautiful record of billions of years of Solar System history. It is utterly unlike the Earth, whose surface is constantly churned up by violent geology, weather, biology, and mankind. Exploration, yes. Exploitation, please, never!
30-inch homemade Newtonian with periscope
20-inch homemade equatorial Newtonian with periscope
14-inch homemade equatorial Newtonian
10-inch Newtonian that folds flat
6-inch Russian Maksutov-Newtonian on Vixen equatorial mount
Too many small scopes and binoculars to mention
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