Objects in Moon-Setting Video Are Further Than They Appear

If I had to choose, death-by-crushing-moon sounds like a pretty cool way to go.

Fortunately for the handful of people perched atop Mount Teide during last month’s full Flower Moon, that was not the case.

“These people are not in danger,” NASA said of a stunning video, shot by photographer Daniel López, that showcases May’s monster Moon setting behind the Teide volcano in the Canary Islands.

“What is coming down from the left is just the Moon, far in the distance,” the agency assured viewers.

Captured the morning of May 30 in Tenerife, the clip admittedly looks like an Internet illusion created to shock and astonish. But, as NASA points out, the dazzling imagery is 100 percent real.

“Luna appears so large here because she is being photographed through a telescopic lens,” according to the Astronomy Picture of the Day description. “The people pictured are 16 kilometers [10 miles] away.”

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And despite its high-speed action, the video is not a time-lapse—”this was really how fast the Moon was setting,” NASA noted.

The full Flower Moon, named by Native Americans who used lunar phases to track the seasons, takes its cue from the blossoms that tend to “spring forth in abundance” in May, The Old Farmer’s Almanac reported.

Some Algonquin tribes new this full Moon as the Corn Planting Moon (which seems pretty self-explanatory) or the Milk Moon; others called it Mother’s Moon.

“The May Moon marked a time of increasing fertility, with temperatures warm enough for safely bearing young, a near end to late frosts, and plants in bloom,” the reference site said.

Many of the folks on Mount Teide, however, were paying no attention to the lunar attraction; most can actually be seen facing the camera, watching the Sun rise behind López.

If you missed last month’s full Moon (and you probably did), keep an eye to the skies on June 28, when the full Strawberry Moon arrives.

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