Time-lapse: Crescent Moon dips behind Oceanside’s singed pier diner

OCEANSIDE, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Though his artist’s eye was searching for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launch Thursday, a North County photographer found himself capturing the picturesque descent of a Waxing Moon instead.

“Rocket launch was just a tad too late, and the sun was too low below the horizon to illuminate the rocket well,” said Vladimir Medvinsky, who posted up near the iconic Oceanside Pier around 8:20 p.m. with hopes of photographing contrasts worth freezing in time.

He accomplished just that, but it wasn’t the rocket stream.

“When I got to the coast, I was torn on what to focus on. The Crescent Moon seemed to align perfectly with the remains of what used to be Ruby’s Diner at the end of the pier, but the timing of the Moon to align just above Ruby’s was turning out to be exactly when SpaceX was launching,” Medvinsky explained. “And soaring at approximately 17,000 mph, the rocket doesn’t give you much time to fiddle around with the camera; it clears the entire sky in a matter of minutes.”

On Sept. 5, 2024, Earth’s celestial neighbor was in a Waxing Gibbous phase, meaning its illumination — brightened, of course, by the Sun — was at 70%. Only visible as a slender arc-shape, the Crescent Moon appeared to hide behind the singed diner that sits on the end of the pier.

The former restaurant, now held in the memory of many North County locals as a once nostalgic meeting place, caught fire this past April. Now known by most as “the old Ruby’s Diner,” the then-vacant building faced its final demise during the firefight.

REALTED: ‘A very special place’: Community returns to Oceanside Pier

“The Moon above Oside Pier was just too beautiful to miss, especially since I’ve been hearing on the news about upcoming demolition and construction,” said Medvinsky. “I haven’t shot the pier since the fire and thought this may be my last opportunity, so I left the telephoto lens on my camera and proceeded to photograph the Moon as it set through the rubbles.”

Medvinsky was able to snap a photographic time-lapse of Thursday’s dipping Crescent Moon, as seen in the compilation below:

“I think I can speak for majority of Oceanside locals and San Diegan’s alike– we will miss Ruby’s but are excited to see the renovations and what’s to come,” said Medvinsky.

Was the Crescent Moon offering a solemn nod of farewell to the beloved diner? Only the universe knows.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.