Pic(k) of the Week: Full Wolf Moon

The setting Full 'Wolf Moon,' waning gibbous (at 99% illumination), on a cloudy, early morning, as seen over Decatur, Georgia, USA, on 7 January 2023 at 6:43 am EDT.

The first full moon of the new year, January's Wolf Moon, rises on Friday night (Jan. 6). The moon will be on the far side of Earth and close to its farthest from the Earth, around 250,000 miles (around 400,000 km), making it a 'micromoon,' the opposite of a 'supermoon,' when the moon is closer to the Earth. The moon's orbit around Earth is a flattened circle, or 'elliptical, ' so there are times when the moon is closer to Earth and times when it is farther away. However, 'supermoons' appear only around 14% larger than 'micromoons,' a difference virtually imperceptible to the naked eye.

The Old Farmer's Almanac states that the name for January's full moon —the Wolf Moon— arises due to the fact it was seen at times of the year when wolves could be howling outside villages as a result of hunger.

— Space.com.

-----more-----

• This is a handheld focal-length blend of two shots: one of the moon at 300 mm and one at 108 mm (with a slower shutter speed) of the building behind which the moon was setting. And, yet, the final image is faithful to what I saw when I looked up. Only a few minutes later, the moon 'fell' beneath the building.


• Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of images posted on Saturdays, occasionally, but not always (as is the case today), with a good fermentable as the subject.
• Photo 3 of 52, for year 2023. See a hi-res version at Flickr: here.
• Commercial reproduction requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.


• Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II.
• Lens: Lumix G Vario 100-300/F4.0-5.6
• Settings (image 1): 108 mm | 1/100 sec | ISO 800 | ƒ/4.1
• Settings (image 2): 300 mm | 1/320 sec | ISO 320 | ƒ/11.0
• Focal length blend.


• For more from YFGF:
  • Follow on Facebook: YoursForGoodFermentables.
  • Follow on Flickr: Cizauskas.
  • Follow on Instagram: @tcizauskas.
  • Follow on Vero: @cizauskas.