Category Archives: lunar gazing

astronomy, lunar gazing, Moon

Did You SuperMoon?

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We Didn’t

Everybody was all atwitter over the Supermoon this past weekend. I saw lots of really hyper news stories about this amazing event, and a few really strange posts linking the SuperMoon to all kinds of supernatural things.  SuperMoon really isn’t a term that astronomers use. It was coined by an astrologer, and doesn’t really have any scientific meaning. But, it catches people’s attention and gets them to look at the Moon, which isn’t a bad thing.

Anyway, I assume a lot of people went out, looked at the Full Moon above the horizon (where the Moon usually appears largest) and thought to themselves, “Wow, that is super.”  If that’s what YOU did, that’s great. The Moon did appear slightly larger (although I doubt the average viewer would have noticed exactly HOW much larger), and I hear it was very pretty.

I say that because we got clouded out last night, and I only got a tiny peek at the Moon very late in the evening, high above the mountain behind us. Not that I could have told you, “Oh that Moon looks a few percent bigger than last month”. I do watch the Moon and stars and planets, to be sure. We did hope to see an International Space Station pass last night, too, but the clouds precluded that. Sometimes the clouds get you, and there’s nothing you can do but stay inside and do something else indulgently astronomical. I worked on writing some skygazing material for next month, and did a little research for a script I’m doing about the Moon.

So, I hope if you SuperMooned, it was a great sight. I hope that it piqued your interest about continuing to observe the Moon.  It’s pretty easy to do: you just keep following the Moon’s progress through the sky over the next two weeks. It’ll slowly change shape to a narrow crescent, appearing in the early morning hours. Then, it’ll be New Moon, and shortly thereafter, the first crescent of the next cycle will appear low in the western sky after sunset. This happens month after month, and the beauty of the scene is always breathtakingly lovely. It’ll hook you on Moon-gazing and the next thing you know, you’ll be memorizing craters and maria on the Moon and taking images of it.

Enjoy!

lunar gazing, Moon

Super Moon? Super What?

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Lunar Feeding Frenzy

So, this weekend we’re supposed to be seeing something called the “SuperMoon”.  I don’t know what that means, really.  It’s another superlative name like “OctoMom” or “MegaMillions” that really doesn’t tell you much.  Oh, sure, MegaMillions is a come-0n to buy lottery tickets, but honestly, the last time I bought one, the prize wasn’t so “Mega”.  It was more like a few million.  Now “mega” would be a prize to win.  If you don’t believe me, go look it up. And don’t get me started on all the wrongness of the name “OctoMom”.  You can look that one up on your own time.

Getting back to “SuperMoon”.  The Full Moon occurs on Sunday May 6 at 03:35 UT (that’s Saturday May 5 at 8:35 p.m., PDT, 9:35 p.m. Mountain Time, 10:35 p.m., CDT, 11:35 p.m. EDT, in the U.S.).  It just so happens that it’s occurring at the same time that the Moon is closest to Earth in its orbit.  This is perfectly normal. It happens in the orbital mechanics of the Earth-Moon-Sun system. The Moon’s distance varies during its orbit; sometimes it’s closer and sometimes it’s farther away.

The Full Moon will be at perigee, essentially. Or, if you want the technical term: the event is referred to by scientists as perigee-syzygy (of the Earth-Sun-Moon system).   The Moon will be 12 percent brighter and larger than the usual Full Moon.  Will you be able to tell the difference between the Moon at perigee at Full Moon and a Full Moon NOT at perigee?  Probably not.  It’s not going to appear much different to you unless you make a practice of charting the Moon’s size and brightness daily (or nightly). Mind you, it’s still going to be beautiful.  I like what my friend Neil deGrasse Tyson said about it:  “The impending Supermoon is to an average full Moon what a 16″ Pizza is to a 15″ Pizza. So chillax.”

Interestingly enough, the term “supermoon” isn’t really even a scientific one. It appears to be an astrological one, and at least one writer (and probably more) have come up with the idea that these supermoons cause earthquakes and other natural disasters. However, the evidence (taken from actual observations of when earthquakes and other events actually happened) doesn’t support the idea. That hasn’t stopped people who really ought to know better from hyping the “SuperMoon” as some sort of mystical time when Earth is in danger. Orbital mechanics being what they are, supermoons are gonna happen, and earthquakes are gonna happen, but the likelihood of one influencing the other is pretty darned low.

If I were you, I’d just go out and enjoy the beauty of the Full Moon. It doesn’t have to be “Super” for you and yours to step out with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope and just explore the lunar surface. It can be quite relaxing… and breathtaking. No hype needed.