There’s a series of pictures going around the web right now showing the rising Moon in the background, and people whimsically doing things to it in the foreground. It’s hard to explain, so here is a picture literally worth 28 words:

I love this series of photos, and I’ve seen people plug it on Twitter, Google+, and I’ve gotten an email or two about it as well. The thing is, the photographer who took these pictures isn’t getting any attribution in the copies I’ve seen (like, for example, on FAILblog; I’ve sent them a note about it [UPDATE: they've added a link to Laurent's page. Yay!]). The cool thing is, I know who took these images: the amazingly creative French photographer Laurent Laveder.

I knew it was him right away, because his photo of a man "painting" the Moon during a lunar eclipse took the ninth slot in my Top Ten Astronomy Images of 2006!

I think artists who create things should get credit, so I’m letting everyone know who took those shots. I like Laurent’s work quite a bit, and as it turns out he also works on The World At Night, which I just happened to write about a few days ago: it’s an effort to take photos of world landmarks against the night sky, and is supported by Astronomers Without Borders.

You can find more of Laurent’s Moon photos at PixHeaven. Check them out; they’re fantastic. He also has a book and postcard prints of them, too! And if you tweeted/G+ed or emailed someone about these Moon shots, then let everyone know who took ‘em. Laurent deserves the credit for such imagination and planning, and for creating such lovely and wonderful art.

Image credit: Laurent Laveder

Bonus points to anyone who understands the very obscure reference I made in this article’s title. You win nothing tangible, but the chuffed feeling of having shared knowledge of the greatest cartoonist of the modern age.

In retrospect, the story similarities seem obvious.

Via Neatorama on G+

I put this up on Google+ and Twitter, so what the heck.

My Thanksgiving wish to everyone:

Courtesy of Hyperbole and a Half and my own superior and fearsome Photoshop skillz.

There’s a wonderful comedic quiz show in the UK called "QI" — for "Quite Interesting" — which is hosted by none other than Stephen Fry. The participants are comedians, and they’re asked questions ranging over just about every topic you can imagine. The BBC recently uploaded a clip about which alert BA Bloggee Brett Warburton informed me. In it, Fry shows the contestants a video of the Sun setting, and asks them to ring in when they think the Sun has completely set. Here’s the clip:

This is, in fact, correct! The Earth’s air bends the image of the Sun upward, so we can still see the Sun even though it is physically below the horizon. If we didn’t have air, daytime would be shorter. In fact, this effect works for sunrise as well, so we see the Sun rise before it’s physically cleared the horizon.

And Stephen was correct in the amount too; the light is bent upward by just about the same size as the Sun, so when the lower limb of the Sun just kisses the horizon it’s actually already set.

But it’s a bit more complicated, of course. (more…)

Last week, I was checking my feed reader, catching up on all my favorite web comics. One of them is sci-ence, a comic you really should be reading. It’s drawn (in part) by artist and science afficianado Maki Naro, and (like xkcd and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal) it’s both funny and scilicious.

I got a snicker out of the comic he had just posted, dealing with my pal Neil Tyson and the Moon. Go read it!

Back yet? OK.

Now, I know that just last night I was praising Neil, and today I have no cause to bury him. But I will nitpick a wee bit…

First, of course, who hasn’t wanted to chase Neil Tyson down the street while yelling incoherently at him? But that aside, I must point out that this explanation of the Moon Illusion, while very common, is not actually correct.

The Moon Illusion is when the rising (or setting) Moon looks huge and fat, squatting on the horizon, but appears far smaller when up high in the sky. But it’s not because you’re comparing it with foreground objects! I’ve seen this illusion when out in the open plain, with nothing between me and the horizon but Kansas farmland, which is like a geometric plane, except flatter.

(more…)

Perhaps the single greatest feeling in the world — better than winning the lottery, better than seeing your baby being born, better than having fresh batteries in the TV remote — is waking up to find out you’re in the latest Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic. Click the panel here to read the whole thing.

Even better? There’s a new SMBC book! I haven’t read it yet, because Zach hasn’t sent me a free copy in exchange for relentlessly shilling his stuff here on the blog, but I assume it’s at least mildly diverting. Look, SMBC is the funniest science-based web comic done by a geeky ginger who also draws himself shirtless all the time, which, let’s face it, is a niche that’s nearly saturated (assuming Rupert Grint doesn’t start one as well).

His first book, "Save Yourself, Mammal!" is really funny, and this new one is a collection of comics hand-picked by Zach, so it’ll be the best thing you’ve ever read, or Zach will send you a dozen long-stem roses flown in from Ecuador^*.

[NOTE: Many of Zach's comics deal with topics that are probably NSFW. If you buy the book you may get the vapors if you are inclined thusly. Be ye fairly warned, says I.]

^* Hey, if it’s on the Internet, it must be true!

I believe without reservation that this may be the greatest instance of pareidolia of all time: an ultrasound of a man experiencing epididymo-orchitis, or pain and swelling of a testicle:

Having suffered through a similar (if less traumatic) version of this, may I add that the expression on the man’s, um, "face" is exquisitely accurate.

Tip o’ the codpiece to my Hive Overmind co-blogger Ed Yong on Google+. Original image: Elsevier, Inc.