EGAD

Moonrise over Jordan

Montage of the moon rising over the mountains on the Saudi Arabian side of the Red Sea, as seen from Habiba. 2005:04:25 20:44:52 to 20:47:41.

Just a quick astrophotography post today, continuing my creeping efforts to go through the pictures from the Sinai weekend.

The full moon fell on our last night in Habiba that weekend, which actually rather annoyed me, since that meant we'd had a nearly-full moon in the evening sky every night we'd been there. Hence no tasty dark skies to enjoy. But the moon is also photogenic, so I made do.

Longer exposure shots of the same moonrise are able to capture the silhouette of the mountains against the sky glow, and details of the water and far coast. 2005:04:25 20:45:39 and 2005:04:25 20:46:51.

Even the detailed map of the Sinai doesn't show anything on the Saudi coast of the Red Sea opposite Nuweiba, but those lights at the waterline were definitely some kind of settlement. Looking northeast, we could easily make out the port towns of Haql and Al-Humayda further up the coastline, although dust or mist reduced Eilat and Aqaba to fuzzy lights on the northern horizon. Still, a solid 40-kilometer clear line of sight at sea level over water is pretty good. The mountaintops outlined by the rising moon are, at a best guesstimate, about 20-25 kilometers distant.