NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

Shuttle Plume Shadow Points to Moon

Why would the shadow of a space shuttle [ http://www.dfrc.nas…] launch plume point toward the Moon? Two weeks ago during the launch of Atlantis [ http://science.ksc.…], the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], Earth, Moon [ http://www.nineplan…], and rocket were all properly aligned for this photogenic coincidence. First, for the space shuttle [ http://www.shuttlep…]'s plume to cast a long shadow, the time of day must be either near sunrise [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] or sunset [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Next, just at sunset, the shadow [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is the longest and extends all the way to the horizon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Finally, during a Full Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] are on opposite sides of the sky. Just after sunset [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], for example, the Sun is slightly below the horizon [ http://www.dictiona…], and, in the other direction, the Moon is slightly above the horizon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Therefore, as Atlantis [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] blasted off, just after sunset [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], its shadow projected away from the Sun toward the opposite horizon, where the Full Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] just happened to be.

NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/]

Moon

Shuttle

shadow

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Washington, D.C.

Earth

Moon

Sun

DMSP

moon

Space Shuttle Orbiter

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap010219