This month's Full moon will be a 'supermoon'

[ED_4]

Saw this on the Weather Channel.
Full article link:
"Biggest Full Moon of the Year Occurs This Month."

Snippet of the article:

"The moon will become full Saturday at 11:35 p.m. EDT. And because this month's full moon coincides with the moon's perigee — its closest approach to Earth — it will also be the year's biggest.The moon will swing in 221,802 miles (356,955 kilometers) from our planet, offering skywatchers a spectacular view of an extra-big, extra-bright moon, nicknamed a supermoon."

So for any moon watchers out there. Keep an eye on that full moon this coming Saturday.:thumbup:

 

[n72.75]

That'll make it like what, 20 arcseconds bigger? It'll fill the sky.


In all seriousness though, that is interesting.

 

[N_Molson]

Still, I guess that with a telescope, there are a little more details to see when the Moon is 350.000 km away than when she is 400.000 km away...

 

[orb]

It won't look any different now than a month ago, unless you will be comparing photos.


Discover Magazine - Bad Astronomy: The Supermoon stuff? AGAIN?:

{...} To be specific, according to Fourmilab, the Moon will be 356,953 kilometers from Earth when it’s full. However, last month, on April 7, when it was full it was about 358,313 km away. That’s a difference of 1400 km, less than 1%. So really, the size of the full Moon this weekend won’t be any different than it was last month, and no one was writing about it then. And to show I’m not being biased, take a look at when the Moon was full near apogee — the most distant point in its orbit. That’ll happen in late November of 2012, when it’ll be at a distance of 406,364 km. That’s still only a difference of less than 14%.

That’s a pretty small change, not enough to notice by eye. {...}

 

[ED_4]

Not when you're viewing it close to moon set or during moon rise. That makes the illusion of having the moon extremely huge in the sky due to the atmosphere acting as a sort of lens.:lol:

Like this one below:

So it's a hype. If you're an amateur astronomer. You'd go out there with a telescope anyway to view it. Particularly if you really like watching the moon.

 

[Gerdih]

Well Im amateur astronomer and I prefer to go out when the moon its not full. Its more beautiful to see the mountains with his shadow, also its easy to see more stars, and your eye will feel better than when you see full moon directly.

 

[sorindafabico]

Last year I compared two pictures I took, one from the "supermoon", one from the full moon one month before. The "supermoon" was, uh, 3 pixels larger.

I used a 6 megapixels camera with a 300mm lens (35mm equiv.).

 

[ED_4]

Last year I compared two pictures I took, one from the "supermoon", one from the full moon one month before. The "supermoon" was, uh, 3 pixels larger.

I used a 6 megapixels camera with a 300mm lens (35mm equiv.).

Did you capture it close to the horizon? Giving it that super huge effect?

 

[Donamy]

The lunies will be in rare form Sat. I'm guessing.

 

[Hielor]

Not when you're viewing it close to moon set or during moon rise. That makes the illusion of having the moon extremely huge in the sky due to the atmosphere acting as a sort of lens.:lol:

Like this one below:

That has significantly more to do with the moon's visual proximity to items on the ground giving you a frame of reference and making it appear larger than any kind of atmospheric "lens" effect.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question491.htm

 

[Pipcard]

Hey, at least they're not saying something like "Mars will appear as big as the Moon."

 

[TMac3000]

Hey I remember that one! That was funny

 

[sorindafabico]

Did you capture it close to the horizon? Giving it that super huge effect?

No, the Moon was high in the sky (I don't have horizon at home, too many buildings around :/).

The super huge effect you see in pictures is achieved with a telephoto lens or a telescope pointed to the moonrise.


Here are the pics, captions in portuguese: