Ukrainian polar explorers share rare footage of the full moon over "Vernadsky"
Kyiv • UNN
Polar explorers captured a rare full moon over the Akademik Vernadsky station. Due to the clean air and snow, the moonlight makes the night landscape as visible as during the day.
Ukrainian polar explorers captured a beautiful and unique moment — a full moon over the "Akademik Vernadsky" Antarctic station. The corresponding video was published by the National Antarctic Scientific Center on Facebook, UNN reports.
Details
Seeing a full moon in the area of the station is a rare occurrence. Most of the time, the sky here is overcast, and during the summer period, it is light almost constantly, so even in clear conditions, it is difficult to see the stars and the moon.
In Antarctica, the moon appears brighter because the transparent air, free of dust, smoke, and other particles, makes the image of the celestial body as clear as possible. You won't see a red or deep orange Moon on the horizon here. However, if the atmosphere is saturated with water droplets or ice crystals, interesting optical phenomena (coronas or halos) appear around the celestial body.
In Antarctica, there are also no high-rise buildings, street lighting, or industrial facilities that typically "pollute" the sky with light.
During a full moon, the Antarctic landscape becomes clearly visible, almost like during the day, as vast expanses of white ice and snow reflect the moonlight. At such times, one can go outside even without a flashlight.
In Antarctica, polar explorers see the moon differently than in Ukraine. While in Ukraine the full disk is seen by its north pole, the waxing moon resembles the letter "Р" [the first letter of the Ukrainian word for 'growing'], and the waning moon resembles the letter "С" [the first letter of the Ukrainian word for 'old'], in Antarctica, it is the opposite: the full disk is observed by its south pole, and the waxing and waning moons are turned the other way.