NavList:

Frank,

I did not identify the photograph. I worked from the image itself. I
should say plainly that I set out the method and then used an AI
assistant for the pixel measurements and the ephemeris arithmetic. The
reasoning below is what I asked it to check, and I am posting it so the
method can be judged, not the result.

Scale. The Moon is the ruler. On my copy the disc measures about 9.8
pixels across at half intensity. Mean apparent diameter is 31.1
arcminutes, so the scale is 3.2 arcminutes per pixel. Check: over 544
pixels that is a horizontal field of 28 degrees, about a 70 mm
equivalent lens. That is normal for a hand-held shot from a cockpit, so
the scale looks sound. No EXIF and no focal length required.

Range. The Bear measures 280 pixels, the Raptor 185. Using 49.1 m and
18.9 m for their lengths, I get about 190 m and about 110 m. Both are
upper limits, because both aircraft are seen three-quarters on and the
projected length is shorter than the real one. The solid figure is the
ratio. The Bear is about 1.7 times farther than the Raptor, and that
does not depend on the Moon or on the scale.

Date. The disc is gibbous, near 95 percent lit. Full moon in November
2007 was on the 24th at 14:30 UT, so the photograph is near the 22nd or
23rd, or near the 26th or 27th. The upper left limb looks slightly
darker, which points to waxing, so the 23rd or 24th. At ten pixels I do
not call that proof.

The phase gives one more thing. At 95 percent the elongation is at
least 145 degrees, so Sun and Moon are nearly opposite. The Moon sits
about 7 degrees above the warm band at the bottom of the frame, so the
Sun is not down there. That band is the counter twilight, the sky
opposite the Sun. There is no local glare anywhere, which agrees. The
Sun is behind the camera.

With that, and latitude 61 N, the Moon is 7 to 12 degrees high with the
Sun near the horizon only around 1600 to 1700 local, Moon in the east
and Sun setting in the west, or around 0830 to 0930, Moon in the west
and Sun rising in the southeast. So the geometry alone places the
photograph within about an hour and a half.

My copy of the image is small and the Moon is only ten pixels wide. On
the full resolution original the numbers will tighten, and the
terminator should settle waxing against waning.

Diego Melas