Photographer Yannis Behrakis brings fame to the Greek full moon

25 June 2013 / 14:06:51 GRReporter

3958 reads

Photo: Yannis Behrakis

Millions of cameras and mobile phones equipped with cameras perpetuated worldwide the impressive moon on the night of 23 June. Its photographs filled traditional and social media and even the amateur pictures were good enough to evoke admiration and romance.

But one photograph, namely that of the famous Greek photographer Yannis Behrakis, in which the moon is "peering out" from behind the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, reached every point of the world and appeared in leading international media.

Yannis Behrakis is known for his not so romantic works. He follows the events on the hottest scenes but says that he takes pictures of everything that attracts his attention. "The starry sky and all topics related to nature attract me. I try to photograph such landscapes as often as my time allows me to do so," states the photographer for Ethnos newspaper. Monday night was the first time when Behrakis found himself on the southernmost point of mainland Greece to shoot the moon and his experience had provoked different feelings in the audience.

"I spent two days in Sounion and actually, I took two pictures - one in daylight and the other at night. As a man, I felt peace," he says.

The emergence of the largest moon in 2013 at the end of June surprised many people who think that this title belongs to the full moon in August. According to Dionysis Simopoulous, director of the planetarium in Athens, this statement is false and it is the result of an optical illusion.

"This is due to the fact that during the summer months the sun is at the highest point of its visible annual path whereas the moon is relatively close to the horizon. In this position, it can be compared with objects that are in a specified place, such as trees, buildings, antennas."

Since it can be compared with objects that are on earth, it is logical that the moon seems larger. "Thus, the brain of the viewer perceives the specific full moon as larger although our numerous measurements carried out every hour suggest that there is no change in the size of the moon. Of course, there is a measurable difference in the size of the moon depending on whether it is at perigee or apogee. This happens once every month," states Simopoulous.

This year, the moon was at its closest point to the Earth, at a distance of 357,014 km, namely on 23 June. The full moon and the particular position of the satellites of the earth were the factors for the impressive phenomenon in the skies over Greece.

Last year, this happened on 6 May. Then, the moon was even more impressive as it was at a distance of "only" 353,000 km. In 2014, the phenomenon can be observed on 10 August, when the distance between the earth and the moon will be 353,800 km.