A Purdue University student's photo of this week's "supermoon" is not only beautiful, it has an incredible nod to Purdue - and American - history.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WTHR) - Purdue University student Trevor Mahlmann takes a lot of amazing photographs of the night sky.

It's likely few of them compare to the photo he took earlier this week.

Mahlmann, an aspiring astronaut, doesn't miss a chance to take stunning photographs of the International Space Station when it passes over the Purdue campus. He even invites classmates out to wave as it soars overhead.





So when the rare "supermoon" provided photographers - amateur and professional alike - an amazing opportunity to grab shots of the moon as close as it comes to Earth, Mahlmann wasn't going to miss his chance.

Why Moon, you're looking super tonight!

Full Beaver Moon resting atop the #Purdue Bell Tower



(hi-res/prints):https://t.co/7p32esfvAn pic.twitter.com/kiBWpJXNbC — Trevor (@TrevorMahlmann) November 14, 2016





But after he shared that photo of the supermoon passing behind the Purdue Bell Tower, there was an idea.

Facebook user Rob Montgomery wondered if Mahlmann could use the same idea to honor two of Purdue's most famous alumni?

While clouds scrubbed the plans for Monday night, Mahlmann set out Tuesday to give it a shot.

(Here's where a whole lot of science and semi-technical photography talk comes in, which you can read on Mahlmann's blog here.)

Camped out atop a parking garage on 3rd Street, Trevor figured out a few things on the fly, then took what he calls one of "the top 10 favorite photos I've taken while here at Purdue."

Now, while the photo looks a lot like his effort from Sunday night, it's not, for one amazing reason.

The spire atop the bell tower points directly at the Sea of Tranquility, the spot where Purdue alumnus Neil Armstrong landed in Apollo 11 and set foot on the moon on July 20-21, 1969.

"We have boot prints up there from people who once walked this campus. Too cool," Mahlmann wrote.