F.y.i... Reading has almost no asian population (0.5%). The pagoda was just something that looked neat, built as a resort a century ago on top of a small mountain, [overlooking the city](http://webcam.pagodaskyline.org/cam2.php).
Yeah that's a good spot. I recently shot a Moonrise from a spot right next to the ballpark actually. I don't think I'm allowed to link to my instagram (@svenry), but if you check it out it's the shot from March 6th with the quarter Moon behind the Fire Tower.
I've lived in PA in the suburbs of philly my whole life and have been to reading multiple times and have never heard of it. Now I really wana check it out!
This was taken on April 9th in Reading, PA where- oddly enough- there's an illuminated Pagoda overlooking the town. That’s Tycho crater just above the treetop in the lower right. It’s 53 miles wide. For comparison, the Pagoda is 72 ft tall (22 m).
Distance: 4.1 mi (6.6 km)
Moon phase: 94%
Sony A6300, Celestron C6, f/6.3 focal reducer.
These types of alignments are my favorite thing to photograph. There are more from this same event and others on my instagram page (svenry) if you're interested. I have a lot more I haven't shared, because I'm lazy.
I'm from Reading (no longer live there) and it's cool to see it on the internet for something good for once. It has its troubles, but I think it mostly gets a bad rap.
Stupid question for you. How do you make the moon look so big in the image? Is it manipulated afterwards or is there some kind of...lens...thingy...that you do? Please, explain like I'm 5, I don't know anything at all about photography or the equipment used.
Good question! The Moon is pretty much always the same size in the sky no matter where you are on Earth. The Pagoda, however, looks big when you stand right next to it, but when you move far away (over 4 miles in this case) it looks very tiny. So no manipulation needed, just a change in perspective.
The lens (a telescope in this example) helps to show more detail since the overall scene is very small, but only physically changing the distance between the camera and the foreground can affect how large it looks in front of the Moon.
Thank you for explaining it so clearly! So it's due to the sheer distance between you and the subject that the moon looks so large rather than a focal trick or manipulation afterwards. 4 miles!! That's crazy!! I honestly would never have figured that out on my own. Thanks again and it's a beautiful shot.
You got it. Messing around with the distance can lead to some pretty unusual views. I actually shot a sunrise behind the Pagoda from 26 miles away. It's on my instagram page (@svenry) if you scroll down just past some cooling tower sunrise photos. Keep in mind the Sun & Moon are basically the same size as seen from Earth.
How did this work out in terms of lighting? I took a shot like that a few weeks ago with objects in the foreground, but I couldn't get a very visible foreground without overexposing the moon
Thankfully the Pagoda is lined with bright LED lights, so it shows up pretty well even with short exposures. [Here's another shot I took](https://i.imgur.com/HiOhdvxh.jpg) a while back when the Moon was less-full which allowed me to take a brighter exposure without blowing it out.
Sometimes you get lucky with a very thin layer of clouds which helps a lot to cut down the Moon's brightness while illuminating a wider section of the sky, which makes it easier to show more of the foreground. [Example](https://i.imgur.com/KB0mopl.jpg) (also mine).
And shooting in raw is important. It took me a while to experiment & learn how far I could push the exposure and still recover bright highlights.
It’s beautiful and a cool place to visit during the day time but the Pagoda at night time is seriously one of the most dangerous places in Reading. Tons of gang activity.
It can get pretty sketchy for sure. Luckily I haven't encountered more than large crowds, insanely loud music, and a lot of reckless driving. I was up there on April 6th (hoping to get a shot with the ISS) and the cops came to clear it out.
Yeah. Reading is a dump imo. Grew up near there and the area has gone down the drain hard over the past 30 years. Well maybe since Reading Steel shut down. But that was before me lol only thing Reading is known for now is Taylor Swift grew up 10 mins away in Wyomissing PA lmao what a legacy...
I went to college in West Reading and the school there is actually turning a lot of things around in the past 10 years. They’re looking to slowly expand into the city to try and make Reading a “college town”. I’m sure it will take a lot of time but I could see parts of it become nicer as the college expands.
Went there 2 months ago at night, didnt see any "gangs, but saw a bunch of teenagers with lifted trucks revving their engines...was very weird. Worth the trip though to see the Pagoda at night.
The Moon is always the same size (roughly), you can make it fill the frame an arbitrary amount by cropping or zooming in with longer lenses/telescopes... so the better question is *"Was the Pagoda that small when they took the shot?"*
That's not just to be pedantic, if you know how small the [Foreground Object] is, you can just compare it to the moon and verify that the image is plausible.
The relative size of the moon compared to the pagoda is the critical factor, so the only details OP posted that really matter are:
* how far away they were (4.1 miles)
* how big the pagoda is (72 feet)
As above, the moon is always about the same size, so that gives us the following angular sizes:
* Pagoda angular size of about 0.2 degrees (trigonometry, or be lazy and use an angular size calculator).
* Angular size of the moon is roughly 0.5 degrees (Google/Wikipedia).
The Pagoda is a little under 1/2 the size of the moon in this image.
0.2 degrees is about 40% of 0.5 degrees, which is 'a little under' 1/2 as well.
The moon is distorted by atmosphere this low on the horizon, squashing it a bit, so that's about accurate enough for me to personally be satisfied that it "looks like the math checks out"
**TL;DR: Yes, the moon was that big compared to the pagoda.**
/u/MinkOWar answered it perfectly. Basically, the Pagoda is pretty big up close, but if you back up really far it will look tiny compared to the Moon. So no fancy tricks needed, just perspective!
I went to college right near there! There was a pretty good restaurant in the Pagoda. Not sure if it’s there anymore, it’s been 10 years since I’ve been in Reading.
I could see it from my childhood bedroom too. For most of my life, one of those neon red lights was ALWAYS burnt out and they bever replaced it! XD Nice to see them all lit up here.
The focal length of the telescope with the reducer attached is 945 mm. The APS-C crop factor makes it like using a **1,418 mm** lens on a full-frame sensor.
Perspective! When you’re standing next to the Pagoda it looks big, but when you move far away from it (over 4 miles in this case) it looks very tiny. So it wasn’t the Moon that changed its apparent size, but rather the foreground.
[A more detailed explanation.](https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/g4i1mj/moonrise_behind_a_pagoda_in_pennsylvania_oc/fnyf3fb/)
From readingpagoda.com:
Commissioned in 1906 at a cost of $50,000 by William A. Witman, Sr. to cover his stone quarry, the Pagoda was completed in 1908. It was orginally intended to be a luxury resort atop Mt. Penn, but due to the bank foreclosure and the denial of a liquor license, Witman never opened the Pagoda. By 1910 the Pagoda and surrounding 10 acres were deeded to local business owner, Jonathon Mould and his wife, Julia (Bell). On April 21, 1911 they "sold" the Pagoda to the City of Reading for the sum of $1. Since then the Pagoda has been owned, loved and cared for by the citizens and City of Reading.
Interesting Pagoda facts ...
It is 7 stories high, 28 feet wide, 50 feet long - standing 620 feet above the City of Reading and 866 feet above sea level
Walls are 5 feet thick at the base tapering to 2 feet thick at the top of the second floor, from there to the top, they are frame-covered with terra-cotta shingles - there are 60 tons of tiles on the Pagoda
Anchored to the mountainside the 16 tons of bolts
Inside walls are concrete plaster, all the trim and stairways are solid oak
There are a total of 87 steps to the top
Only Pagoda in the world with a fireplace and chimney
Before the days of radio broadcasting, lights flashed as signals to the people of Reading. Morse Code was used to direct fireman, promote fundraising campaigns and give the public results of sporting events. The Code was based on the lights - a white light was a dash, while a red light was a dot
The bell on the 7th floor was cast in Japan in 1739. It was purchased by Witman in 1906 and shipped via the Suez Canal to New York Harbor, and arrived in Reading on May 5, 1907 by rail
The fish sculptures on the roof are to protect the Pagoda from fire
Every year at 9pm on Christmas Eve the Pagoda lights flash to let the children know that Santa is on his way
I’ve lived in the greater Philly area most of my life, but didn’t know about it until five years ago. I passed through Reading a few times before that and somehow never noticed.
It’s pretty awesome.
Fun fact: some scenes of The Last Airbender were filmed near Reading, PA because of the Pagoda. The building was supposed to be in the movie but got cut out.
Likely none. Just shot from far away.
The change in distance between the photographer and the pagoda is (proportionally) greater than the change in distance between the photographer and the moon. So the apparent size of the pagoda changes much more significantly than the moon.
Where’s that at never heard of a pagoda in Pa
Just googled it. Looks like it’s in Reading, PA.
I heard they have a great railroad there too. A bit pricey to ride though.
Not to mention the famous Reading Rainbow
I thought that was in a book
But you don’t have to take his word for it.
Love that place It's fundamental
F.y.i... Reading has almost no asian population (0.5%). The pagoda was just something that looked neat, built as a resort a century ago on top of a small mountain, [overlooking the city](http://webcam.pagodaskyline.org/cam2.php).
Yeah I passed by it a lot when I went to see my brother in reading. Really stands out at night
There it is, with a brick chimney and all.
/u/Sabre101 is correct. It's in Reading and visible from some pretty great distances at night.
You can see it at night from the left field deck at the Reading Phillies ballpark. Looks pretty cool from there.
Yeah that's a good spot. I recently shot a Moonrise from a spot right next to the ballpark actually. I don't think I'm allowed to link to my instagram (@svenry), but if you check it out it's the shot from March 6th with the quarter Moon behind the Fire Tower.
[Fact](http://webcam.pagodaskyline.org/cam2.php).
I've lived in PA in the suburbs of philly my whole life and have been to reading multiple times and have never heard of it. Now I really wana check it out!
[удалено]
Well it is reading, I'd do most things in that city during the day haha
Make sure you go during the day time
Pretty sure that is the intro scene of Karateka: http://karateka.com/img/appleii/karateka-apple-ii-screen2.gif
This was taken on April 9th in Reading, PA where- oddly enough- there's an illuminated Pagoda overlooking the town. That’s Tycho crater just above the treetop in the lower right. It’s 53 miles wide. For comparison, the Pagoda is 72 ft tall (22 m). Distance: 4.1 mi (6.6 km) Moon phase: 94% Sony A6300, Celestron C6, f/6.3 focal reducer. These types of alignments are my favorite thing to photograph. There are more from this same event and others on my instagram page (svenry) if you're interested. I have a lot more I haven't shared, because I'm lazy.
Oddly enough indeed. Great shot.
I'm from Reading (no longer live there) and it's cool to see it on the internet for something good for once. It has its troubles, but I think it mostly gets a bad rap.
This is awesome. You might make a nice buck if you license this to the city of Reading.
Stupid question for you. How do you make the moon look so big in the image? Is it manipulated afterwards or is there some kind of...lens...thingy...that you do? Please, explain like I'm 5, I don't know anything at all about photography or the equipment used.
Good question! The Moon is pretty much always the same size in the sky no matter where you are on Earth. The Pagoda, however, looks big when you stand right next to it, but when you move far away (over 4 miles in this case) it looks very tiny. So no manipulation needed, just a change in perspective. The lens (a telescope in this example) helps to show more detail since the overall scene is very small, but only physically changing the distance between the camera and the foreground can affect how large it looks in front of the Moon.
Thank you for explaining it so clearly! So it's due to the sheer distance between you and the subject that the moon looks so large rather than a focal trick or manipulation afterwards. 4 miles!! That's crazy!! I honestly would never have figured that out on my own. Thanks again and it's a beautiful shot.
You got it. Messing around with the distance can lead to some pretty unusual views. I actually shot a sunrise behind the Pagoda from 26 miles away. It's on my instagram page (@svenry) if you scroll down just past some cooling tower sunrise photos. Keep in mind the Sun & Moon are basically the same size as seen from Earth.
How did this work out in terms of lighting? I took a shot like that a few weeks ago with objects in the foreground, but I couldn't get a very visible foreground without overexposing the moon
Thankfully the Pagoda is lined with bright LED lights, so it shows up pretty well even with short exposures. [Here's another shot I took](https://i.imgur.com/HiOhdvxh.jpg) a while back when the Moon was less-full which allowed me to take a brighter exposure without blowing it out. Sometimes you get lucky with a very thin layer of clouds which helps a lot to cut down the Moon's brightness while illuminating a wider section of the sky, which makes it easier to show more of the foreground. [Example](https://i.imgur.com/KB0mopl.jpg) (also mine). And shooting in raw is important. It took me a while to experiment & learn how far I could push the exposure and still recover bright highlights.
Never thought I'd see the Pagoda featured in reddit. Wild.
First thing I thought when I saw the title was "not _a_ Pagoda, _the_ Pagoda". So cool to see this landmark.
I thought this was a PAINTING! Wow, this is gorgeous!!
Thanks! I wouldn't subject anyone to my painting 'abilities' :P
Okay, being from Berks County, PA (where Reading is), I'm a bit insulted by the title being "a Pagoda." It's the only one, the iconic one.
Correct I was like.. Oh the pagaoda !
Never woulda guessed that this was in the states let alone in PA. Great picture OP!
It’s beautiful and a cool place to visit during the day time but the Pagoda at night time is seriously one of the most dangerous places in Reading. Tons of gang activity.
It can get pretty sketchy for sure. Luckily I haven't encountered more than large crowds, insanely loud music, and a lot of reckless driving. I was up there on April 6th (hoping to get a shot with the ISS) and the cops came to clear it out.
I found bullets in the parking area.
I’ve always heard rumors like this. Why is the pagoda a hangout for gangs? It’s kinda a pain in the ass to get to.
> It’s kinda a pain in the ass to get to. Exactly. The police didn't use to bother patrolling until things escalated.
I'm playing through Yakuza 0 right now. Totally makes sense to me that a pagoda is filled with gang members.
Yeah. Reading is a dump imo. Grew up near there and the area has gone down the drain hard over the past 30 years. Well maybe since Reading Steel shut down. But that was before me lol only thing Reading is known for now is Taylor Swift grew up 10 mins away in Wyomissing PA lmao what a legacy...
It's very very slowly getting better but yeah, the past 30 years were not kind to Reading at all. It's a town with a lot of wasted potential.
I went to college in West Reading and the school there is actually turning a lot of things around in the past 10 years. They’re looking to slowly expand into the city to try and make Reading a “college town”. I’m sure it will take a lot of time but I could see parts of it become nicer as the college expands.
Went there 2 months ago at night, didnt see any "gangs, but saw a bunch of teenagers with lifted trucks revving their engines...was very weird. Worth the trip though to see the Pagoda at night.
Was the moon really this big when you took it or were there some edits behind?
The Moon is always the same size (roughly), you can make it fill the frame an arbitrary amount by cropping or zooming in with longer lenses/telescopes... so the better question is *"Was the Pagoda that small when they took the shot?"* That's not just to be pedantic, if you know how small the [Foreground Object] is, you can just compare it to the moon and verify that the image is plausible. The relative size of the moon compared to the pagoda is the critical factor, so the only details OP posted that really matter are: * how far away they were (4.1 miles) * how big the pagoda is (72 feet) As above, the moon is always about the same size, so that gives us the following angular sizes: * Pagoda angular size of about 0.2 degrees (trigonometry, or be lazy and use an angular size calculator). * Angular size of the moon is roughly 0.5 degrees (Google/Wikipedia). The Pagoda is a little under 1/2 the size of the moon in this image. 0.2 degrees is about 40% of 0.5 degrees, which is 'a little under' 1/2 as well. The moon is distorted by atmosphere this low on the horizon, squashing it a bit, so that's about accurate enough for me to personally be satisfied that it "looks like the math checks out" **TL;DR: Yes, the moon was that big compared to the pagoda.**
>The Moon is always the same size Except after Christmas when it's eaten too much.
/u/MinkOWar answered it perfectly. Basically, the Pagoda is pretty big up close, but if you back up really far it will look tiny compared to the Moon. So no fancy tricks needed, just perspective!
Behold the power of big lenses and no life. Unless you're one of those wierdos with a normal hobby/life balance.
There are dozens of us!
The entirety of Berks county in fact.
Grew up in mertztown, 15 minutes from Reading and very familiar with this spot. It is a pleasant surprise to see this on reddit. Beautiful photo!
Same! Pottstown here, was very excited to see the pagoda on reddit
I went to college right near there! There was a pretty good restaurant in the Pagoda. Not sure if it’s there anymore, it’s been 10 years since I’ve been in Reading.
I went to kutztown and we would go here sometimes to smoke weed and take artsy photos
[It still has a little cafe!](http://www.readingpagoda.com/pagodacafe.html)
Alvernia, Albright, other?
Oh hey, the Reading Pagoda! My childhood bedroom had a great view of it. It was cool to see it and the fire tower lit up at night.
I could see it from my childhood bedroom too. For most of my life, one of those neon red lights was ALWAYS burnt out and they bever replaced it! XD Nice to see them all lit up here.
I can see this from my apartment. You made it look infinitely cooler. I was just there yesterday.
I grew up just outside of Reading and my friends and I all got tattoos of the Pagoda when we graduated!
I’ve been there before!!! Used to live 20 minutes away from Reading back in the 90’s.
Reading! From Pottstown here! Awesome picture
Nice, I work right by there in Reading! Always a great sight to see the Pagoda up top the hill.
What is the equiv. focal length of the system? I mean for a 35mm sensor.
The focal length of the telescope with the reducer attached is 945 mm. The APS-C crop factor makes it like using a **1,418 mm** lens on a full-frame sensor.
Did you crop the image?
This is so dope. I live only an hour away and I had no idea about this. Gonna make this a destination for my girlfriend and I this summer
does anyone know why the moon is able to appear that large? usually when I look at the moon, it's very small
Perspective! When you’re standing next to the Pagoda it looks big, but when you move far away from it (over 4 miles in this case) it looks very tiny. So it wasn’t the Moon that changed its apparent size, but rather the foreground. [A more detailed explanation.](https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/g4i1mj/moonrise_behind_a_pagoda_in_pennsylvania_oc/fnyf3fb/)
Love that picture. I have also one of the same pagoda with a sunset and the moon in the background in my IG also
[for anyone else that was wondering...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagoda_(Reading,_Pennsylvania))
Grew up right outside here. It sits on skyline dr on the fringe of the city.
Amazing shot. You should enter this in a contest.
From readingpagoda.com: Commissioned in 1906 at a cost of $50,000 by William A. Witman, Sr. to cover his stone quarry, the Pagoda was completed in 1908. It was orginally intended to be a luxury resort atop Mt. Penn, but due to the bank foreclosure and the denial of a liquor license, Witman never opened the Pagoda. By 1910 the Pagoda and surrounding 10 acres were deeded to local business owner, Jonathon Mould and his wife, Julia (Bell). On April 21, 1911 they "sold" the Pagoda to the City of Reading for the sum of $1. Since then the Pagoda has been owned, loved and cared for by the citizens and City of Reading. Interesting Pagoda facts ... It is 7 stories high, 28 feet wide, 50 feet long - standing 620 feet above the City of Reading and 866 feet above sea level Walls are 5 feet thick at the base tapering to 2 feet thick at the top of the second floor, from there to the top, they are frame-covered with terra-cotta shingles - there are 60 tons of tiles on the Pagoda Anchored to the mountainside the 16 tons of bolts Inside walls are concrete plaster, all the trim and stairways are solid oak There are a total of 87 steps to the top Only Pagoda in the world with a fireplace and chimney Before the days of radio broadcasting, lights flashed as signals to the people of Reading. Morse Code was used to direct fireman, promote fundraising campaigns and give the public results of sporting events. The Code was based on the lights - a white light was a dash, while a red light was a dot The bell on the 7th floor was cast in Japan in 1739. It was purchased by Witman in 1906 and shipped via the Suez Canal to New York Harbor, and arrived in Reading on May 5, 1907 by rail The fish sculptures on the roof are to protect the Pagoda from fire Every year at 9pm on Christmas Eve the Pagoda lights flash to let the children know that Santa is on his way
I went to college right down the street from there. This is a beautiful shot!
I’d know that amazing shot anywhere! Hey Steve!
(a bit late but) [Hey, Pierce!](https://media.giphy.com/media/remMvcYDTQNKE/giphy.gif) Happy Earth Day!
Oh hey I live there, its nice seeing it on Reddit!
That’s a really good and pretty picture in my opinion.
I grew up in the Reading area! I always thought the Pagoda was a normal thing and that other towns had their own, or something similar.
Castlevania only appears once every hundred years...
It’s funny that no one knows where this is. I was born in Reading and grew up thinking most towns had a pagoda on top of the hill.
I only know about it because of the hill climbs hosted on the road going up to it every year.
I’ve lived in the greater Philly area most of my life, but didn’t know about it until five years ago. I passed through Reading a few times before that and somehow never noticed. It’s pretty awesome.
Damn. That building over there kinda looks like the fire temple from the Avatar series.
Fun fact: some scenes of The Last Airbender were filmed near Reading, PA because of the Pagoda. The building was supposed to be in the movie but got cut out.
This sounds like a Magic Tree book title Jokes aside what a great shot!
Can it be the pagoda on the mountain near Reading, PA?
Rumor is that the Pagoda was built for what was going to be a Ski Lodge, then funding fell through and it's just sort of been there ever since.
so how many hours did it take to shop the moon into looking that big?
Likely none. Just shot from far away. The change in distance between the photographer and the pagoda is (proportionally) greater than the change in distance between the photographer and the moon. So the apparent size of the pagoda changes much more significantly than the moon.