It was something incredible. Even those of us who didn’t know what was happening at first, when you looked up at the sky it responded with a completely unique image: a huge, bright and reddish moon in its early stages.
For those who don’t know, yesterday Monday, August 19th, the blue supermoon took place. And what is this? The Moon travels around the Earth in an orbit that is not completely circular, so there is a point in its orbit that is closer to the Earth, as well as a point that is farther away.
The Moon is normally located about 384,000 km from Earth, but on Monday night it will be 23,000 km closer, almost twice the diameter of Earth.
When the Moon passes through that closest point while it is full or new, it appears larger and brighter and a supermoon occurs. At its closest point, the full moon can appear up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than the faintest moon of the year, which occurs when it is farthest from Earth in its orbit.
And Google could have helped us yesterday when taking this picture
Google Pixel phones have had an Astrophotography mode for several generations, which allows users to take magnificent photos of the stars at night. However, to access this mode, it is necessary to first activate the Night Sight feature, but that could soon change in a future update.
The unofficial channel of Google News on Telegram discovered that it might be possible to manually activate Astrophotography mode on Pixel. According to the findings of the channel, the change will be rolled out with the release of version 9.5.118 of the Pixel Camera app.
To activate the feature, users will have to go to the Night Sight quick settings menu and enable Astrophotography. Reports say that you can switch modes on the fly by sliding the Auto to Astro slider within Night Sight. It is indicated by an icon with a crescent moon and a plus sign, and it should be much easier to quickly activate.
By pressing the shutter button, a five-second timer starts and this brief window allows you to place the phone in a stable place before it starts taking long exposure photos of the night sky. It will do so for about four minutes. Processing the final image may take some time and, it is said, it depends on the age of the phone and the duration of the exposure.
Android Authority states that users can change the timer from five seconds to three or ten seconds. Or, if you prefer, you can disable it completely. However, it does not seem possible to shorten or extend the exposure time. 9To5Google, in its coverage, states that the four minutes are a fixed amount that cannot be adjusted.
Please note that your Pixel phone still needs to be under optimal lighting conditions to take a photo of the night sky. Although the Astrophotography mode will assist you, it is not magic.
