Möbius Arch Moonrise
Only two days past full, February's moon shines through thin clouds, rising on the left in this fisheye night skyscape . The moonlight illuminates a weathered, rounded foreground in the Alabama Hills , conveniently located east of Mt. Whitney along the Sierra Nevada range in California, USA, planet Earth. Orion the Hunter stands at the right, a familiar northern winter constellation . Bright Jupiter, the solar system's ruling gas giant , is near center at the top of the frame. Below Jupiter, Sirius, alpha star of the Big Dog, poses above a bowed and twisted landform known as Möbius Arch, its curve reminiscent of the mathematically famous surface with only one side. Of course , instead of using rock, wind, and weather, a Möbius strip is easier to make with paper, scissors , and tape.