Just in case the sky is not clear enough for you to see this in the UK.


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7211/7145562341_e221541857_z.jpg

Mutt

It should be clear enough here. The moon tonight is supposed to bright enough that one should to be able to read a newspaper.

It was to have peeked above the horizon 20 mins ago here but there is some thin high level cloud. Sun is still up so will check again after din-dins.

Looking forward to it here in Southern California. It has been overcast the last few days but the sun is breaking through now at 1042 Local.

8 oktas here so won't see it.

Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon's orbit.

Super Full Moon - NASA Science (http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/)

ScienceCasts: Super Moon - YouTube

This was the superduperfullmoon rising over my neighbour's house at about 21:30 MEZ (mobile phone photograph, can't be bothered to get the camera out):

http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/uu287/ROBIN_100/Supermoon.jpg

Looks good here in Port Harcourt!

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee406/Helios340/P1040706.jpg

Cold hearted orb that rules the night,
Removes the colours from our sight,
Red is gray and yellow white,
But we decide which is right.
And which is an illusion?
Pinprick holes in a colourless sky,
Let insipid figures of light pass by,
The mighty light of ten thousand suns,
Challenges infinity and is soon gone.
Night time, to some a brief interlude,
To others the fear of solitude.
Brave Helios wake up your steads,
Bring the warmth the countryside needs.

Full cloud here, but the sound of the typhoons in the Chilterns made up for it, around 2140..ish!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/GroupCaptain/Moon5thMay.png

Please provide a relative scale for pictures

I think the FSL had a thread about this last week.

Please provide a relative scale for pictures.

Full-screen uncropped image taken with 400mm lens (600mm 35mm equivalent):-

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/GroupCaptain/IMGP9985.jpg

It looks just the same as it always does this time of night. Oh, wait! I forgot to go outside. That's a lightbulb. :\





Nice lens, G-CTPN. I get very poor moon pictures with my Nikon 18-200 general purpose lens.

Rising now in Oahu...looks brighter than usual or may be just my imagination.

From today's webnews...



A "supermoon" has graced the skies, appearing bigger
and brighter than usual, as it comes closer to the Earth - and is likely to
bring higher tides.





The phenomenon, known as a perigee full moon, means the Moon appears up to
14% bigger and 30% brighter than when it is furthest from the planet.


A full Moon is always a pretty sight; especially when it's low on the horizon. Whilst that I accept that it must be slightly larger in its appearance i.e. it's closer, but surely not to the naked eye?

Any "experts" out there who can enlighten us?

TCF

and is likely to bring higher tides.

By about 6" absolute maximum.

There is more atmosphere to look through when the Moon is low in the sky. The refractive effect makes the moon look bigger than it is.
There is no apparent increase or decrease in size during the moon's orbital cycles.

Is the Moon really bigger?

Jes hold yer thingy up side-by-side - or dead on it - and yer'll see the diff right quickly.

Reminds me of the story of the two dumb blondes sitting on the beach in Cape Town one evening and they look up at the rising moon, low on the horizon and one says to the other :

"Which is closer, the moon or Johannesburg?"
"Well, stupid, everybody knows it's the moon. You can't see Johannesburg from here, can you?"

The moon is made of cheese as well, Wensleydale I believe.

http://johngushue.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451f25369e20115721c3d8e970b-800wi

Lid

There is more atmosphere to look through when the Moon is low in the sky. The refractive effect makes the moon look bigger than it is.
There is no apparent increase or decrease in size during the moon's orbital cycles.

Ummm ... Wrong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_illusion#Proof_of_illusion), and Wrong (http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/).

That's PPRuNe for you - completely incorrect information, provided quickly and sounding completely reasonable :)

The full moon is a boring time for astronomers, we dont bother looking at the buggah at full you need the sun shining upon it at a angle to see anything,anyway it hurts your eyes.
:rolleyes:

Great full moon here in NZ on a clear night and yes it did look bigger!!!!

And it causes hairs to grow on the palms of yer hands.

But not on one's head.:uhoh:

Suggesting that the moon is bigger can get you a new name.......

When Glasgow and South Western Railway driver Will Scott transferred from the Girvan shed to Glasgow corkerhill, he stated that the moon was bigger at Girvan. For the rest of his lengthy railway career, he was known as 'the Big Min'.

Moon's orbit is elliptical (eccentric). Changes in luminosity (and angular momentum) are measurable between apogee and perigee. Mix this with the popular press, wishful thinking and local atmospheric conditions and you get the so called "super moon". ;)

Not seen by me as 8/8 cloud cover scuppered that.

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Bad Moon Rising - YouTube

Caco

Edited to say: that Checker's link says it all better.

Drop me off anywhere in the Mare Imbrium and I could find me way home,that's me fav bit of the Moon.
:rolleyes:

Said with a smile... :)

Certain arguments that "there is no apparent (as opposed to bolometric) change in size of the moon" (presumably between apogee and perigee) are palpably wrong and remind me of this great scene from Father Ted...

Father Ted explains perspective - YouTube

Of course to all intents and purposes (ignoring tiny relativistic effects due to differences in angular momentum and gravitational pull as well as gravitational distortion of the moon and the earth due to proximity etc.) the moon is still the same size but due to proximity at perigee the moon appears bigger and is more luminous (see also apparent magnitude) to an observer here on earth (see: the maths relating to the interrelationship between luminosity and distance)... :ok:

Caco

Yeah, what he says.

Caco not Ted:)

8/8 here last night:(

SGC

Astonishing just how easily our noggins can be fooled.

Id, Ego and Super-ego, pulling us this way and that, and while all this is going on, we look at the moon and see it changing size according to our reasoning it should be. Can't trust what we see.