Is this a composite image of lunar curve captured from same location at the exact time during 28 consecutive days?

Photographers have captured some incredible images of space and the night sky. The moon has always been a popular subject for photographers. Since lunar photography entails taking a photo of an object that’s thousands of miles away, one needs to be a skilled to plan ahead of time, so you can prepare for any possible problems and improve the chances of capturing optimal photos.

Social Media Posts

We observed a Facebook post carrying a caption, “ඉතා අපූර්ව ඡායාරූපයක්. දින 28 ක් තුළදී චන්ද්‍රයාගේ පිහිටීම මෙසේ ඡායාරූප ගත කර ඇත. මෙහි විශේෂත්වය වන්නේ දින 28 ම එම ස්ථානයේ එකම වෙලාවට සිට ජයාරූප ලබාගෙන ඇත” with a stunning image of Lunar curve. Translated to English it meant “A stunning photo. The moon was photographed in 28 days. The specialty of this is that the pictures were taken at the same time in a static location for 28 days”

Facebook | Archived

Below is another post with similar claims in English captioned “A composite photo of the position and phases of the moon over 28 days, each photo taken at the same exact location each day.”

Facebook | Archived

We carried out a google reverse image search on the photograph and observed many reports as well as posts on social media platforms related to this image.

Luna Curve by Giorgia Hofer in Italy

Our attention was drawn to the report of “Fine Art America” themed Lunar Curve Photograph by Giorgia Hofer. “FineArt America” credited the photo to Giorgia Hofer which was uploaded to their site on 30^th September 2018

FineartAmerica | Archived

Then we studied the reports of Giorgia Hofer’s website giorgiahoferphotography.com themed moon. Describing the methodology she had used to create this fascinating image, Giorgia says she had captured the image of the moon every 1,481 minutes, which is 24 hours and 41 minutes. Below is the narration given in the website on the image.

“This is a lunar curve, not a lunar analemma and I explain why.

The position of the Moon has been resumed every 1,481 minutes, ie 24 hours and 41 minutes. To get a classic analemma, it would have been necessary to wait 24 hours and 51 minutes (the rhythm of the lunar month). There is a 10-minute gap.

In this way Moon is always a little "in advance" and this justifies the wider curve: the satellite in the photograph is in fact located a little further to the left of the typical position of the analemma. The advance, which at the end it is about 4 hours between the first day (in top right) and the last (bottom left), not has effect on the lunar phase recovered, at least for this that we can perceive from the ground (enlightenment of the satellite does not vary significantly in this time frame). So, except for the first shot (the one at the top right: as explained before, the chronological progression goes from right to left), the placement of the Moon in the heavenly vault is always farther from that classic.

It is therefore a choice: the composition it does not represent the synodic month but "only" the lunar curve, reproducing something that exists really but that does not have a precise definition.

For a question of correctness and clarity, I deliberately talked about "lunar curve" e not of "synodic curve" or "lunar analemma" just in reference to the longer time intervals short between shots.

It will not be a classic analemma but it is anyway and certainly a curve of great charm!”Details about this can be reached from here.Archived

We checked the Facebook page of Giorgia Hofer Photography and observed a post with the same image uploaded on 10^th April 2018. There she has submitted more information about her creation. It has taken one whole year to take these images due to adverse weather conditions in Italy. Given below is her own description translated to English.

“I am happy to share with you this photograph that requested a lot of time for its realization. This is a composition of 28 shots in which I wanted to represent the position and changing phases of the moon above the peaks of the group, in Italy, during a lunar month, called month synodic.

With an astronomical software I calculated for 27 days the position of the moon every 1481 minutes (24 hours and 41 minutes), but for the capture of all lunar phases I took a whole year because the weather, In my country, it is often unfavorable. The Moons in the waning phase, on the left, were captured in January 2017 while the moons in the growth phase, on the right, between July 2017 and December 2017. To Photograph the moon I used a lens from 400 mm. For the landscape I used a 20 mm angle.”

Archived

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Conclusion

Our fact check revealed that the composite image of the lunar curve was created by Giorgia Hofer, using a series of photographs taken by her. However, the images were not the captures of 28 consecutive days nor were they taken at exact time of a particular day.

Giorgia Hofer had photographed the moon every 1481 minutes (24 hours and 41 minutes) and had to wait almost a year to get these entire sets of images, consisting of different phases of the moon, from a static location in Italy, mainly due to adverse weather conditions.