And now for what goes on in the “between” period – between sunset and sunrise. In summer and winter within the Artic and Antarctic regions, there is a strange sort of “between” period: for about three months of the year, it is permanent daylight and for another three months, it’s permanent night time! The sunrises and sunsets are very protracted. On the Equator, day and night are the same length all the year round, with very brief sunsets and sunrises as the sun rises and goes ‘straight down’ instead of skirting the horizon as it does in the polar regions. Where I live in England, sunset is about 9.30pm in June but 3.30pm in December, while the sunrises at about 4.40am in June and 8.10am in January.
- The moon behind a small baobab tree in Madagascar
- 4th December 2016
- A Blue Moon (the 2nd moon to occur in a calendar month)
- The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) in Norway make up for the long winter nights in the polar regions.
When in Nepal in November 2016, we flew from Kathmandu to Nepalgunj on the evening when there was a Supermoon. It rose behind a peak of the Himalayas just as we took off – not a good photo through three layers of the window of a moving plane, but it was a special moment. The next photo was taken a bit later in the flight – you can just make out the snowy mountains. I enjoyed taking photos most nights from 11th to 19th November of the moon waxing and waning.
- 11th November
- 12th
- 14th – full supermoon
- 14th – supermoon rising behind the Himalayas taken from a plane
- 14th – the snowy Himalayas are just visible
- 16th
- 17th
- 18th
- 19th