Supermoon Tonight!

[3113]

http://www.runemasterstudios.com/graemlins/images/serenade.gif "When the moon's hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore...."

It may not be faster than a speeding bullet, but tonight the moon will make its closest approach to Earth in 18 years—making the so-called supermoon the biggest full moon in years.

Get on out there and take a look everyone. Maybe howl at it a little? Or dance naked beneath it? Or break out a bottle of wine and get romantic....

More here.

 

[Handley_Page]

A guess what we have?. Lots of spectacularly bright cloud!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Socked in in SoCal

 

[trysail]

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/


Perigee Moon
By Dr. Tony Phillips
Credit: Science@NASA

March 16, 2011: Mark your calendar. On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It's a super "perigee moon"--the biggest in almost 20 years.


"The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993," says Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC. "I'd say it's worth a look."


Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. It is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other (apogee): diagram. Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon's orbit.


"The full Moon of March 19th occurs less than one hour away from perigee--a near-perfect coincidence1 that happens only 18 years or so," adds Chester.


A perigee full Moon brings with it extra-high "perigean tides," but this is nothing to worry about, according to NOAA. In most places, lunar gravity at perigee pulls tide waters only a few centimeters (an inch or so) higher than usual. Local geography can amplify the effect to about 15 centimeters (six inches)--not exactly a great flood.


Indeed, contrary to some reports circulating the Internet, perigee Moons do not trigger natural disasters. The "super moon" of March 1983, for instance, passed without incident. And an almost-super Moon in Dec. 2008 also proved harmless.


Okay, the Moon is 14% bigger than usual, but can you really tell the difference? It's tricky. There are no rulers floating in the sky to measure lunar diameters. Hanging high overhead with no reference points to provide a sense of scale, one full Moon can seem much like any other.


The best time to look is when the Moon is near the horizon. That is when illusion mixes with reality to produce a truly stunning view. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. On March 19th, why not let the "Moon illusion" amplify a full Moon that's extra-big to begin with? The swollen orb rising in the east at sunset may seem so nearby, you can almost reach out and touch it.


Don't bother. Even a super perigee Moon is still 356,577 km away. That is, it turns out, a distance of rare beauty.


________________
1Footnote: Less-perfect perigee moons occur more often. In 2008, for instance, there was a full Moon four hours from perigee. Many observers thought that one looked great, so the one-hour perigee moon of 2011 should be a real crowd pleaser.

 

[jomar]

Bah! I'm a fair photographer but need a better camera! The point and shoot digital isn't getting it!

 

[sr71plt]

Saw it. It was all that was promised.

 

[Dragonlipz]

http://www.runemasterstudios.com/graemlins/images/serenade.gif "When the moon's in your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore...."


Get on out there and take a look everyone. Maybe howl at it a little? Or dance naked beneath it? Or break out a bottle of wine and get romantic....

More here.

Blue Moon, You saw me standing alone
without a dream of my own

 

[Bestroika]

Beautiful moon tonight, I was a little worried earlier as the clouds were in the way, but it cleared up beautifully.

 

[oggbashan]

I saw the moon rising over the hills as I drove East.

It was spectacular but I didn't have a camera with me and I needed to concentrate while driving on rural roads. Otherwise I might have hit a sheep!

Og

 

[vrosej10]

Better watch out. Supermoon in Aussie last night. I didn't see it. Passed out at moonrise and woke up naked, bloody and covered in peanut butter, surrounded by a pack of dingoes...

 

[trysail]

The Perigee Moon aka “Supermoon”
by Anthony Watts
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/03/19/the-perigee-moon-aka-supermoon/

http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/twomoon1.jpg
Perigee Moon left, Apogee Moon, right. Picture Credit: Galileo Project, NASA
​

Thanks to WUWT regular “justthefacts” for assembling this story. – Anthony

There has been a lot in the news about, “Saturday’s full moon will be a super “perigee moon” — the biggest in almost 20 years. This celestial event is far rarer than the famed blue moon, which happens once about every two-and-a-half years.”

“The last full moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993,” said Geoff Chester with the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington. “I’d say it’s worth a look.”

Full moons look different because of the elliptical shape of the moon’s orbit. When it’s at perigee, the moon is about 31,000 miles (50,000 km) closer to Earth than when it’s at the farthest point of its orbit, also known as apogee.


“Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the moon’s orbit,” the NASA website says.”


more...

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/03/19/the-perigee-moon-aka-supermoon/

 

[trysail]

http://www.spaceweather.com/

SUPER FULL MOON: The super full Moon of March 19th was the biggest and closest full Moon of the past 18 years. It might also be the most photographed full Moon--ever. Photographers around the world lined up to take pictures like this:

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2011/20mar11/Paco-Bellido1_strip.jpg

"I've been planning this shot for a long time," says Paco Bellido of Cordoba, Spain. "Using Google Earth, I calculated the best place to set up my camera; then I followed my GPS to the spot. I waited for the Super Moon to rise and--voilá!--there it was behind Espejo's Castle."

 

[JackLuis]

What Moon?

Blub, blub.