Supermoon is coming!

[Anne Neville]

This Saturday's full moon will be a Supermoon- a full moon when the moon is close to perigee, so it will appear larger than an average full moon.

Unusually high and low tides are also possible. Tides from last year's supermoon got blamed for grounding several ships.

[jabiru]

I've just been outside and it looks neither bigger nor brighter than usual. In fact, it doesn't even looked fully full.

[manila]

If Saturday in your location equals Friday night in West Africa it was pretty friggin dazzling! Even with the perennial haze that hangs out here. If it wasn't full and we have a repeat tonight then it will be really something else tonight!

[Sudden Kestrel]

As with all celestial events in the 21st century, we Minnesotans won't get to see it due to cloudy skies. Why do the sky gods hate us?

[N9IWP]

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...n-stuff-again/


Brian

[lavenderviolet]

Originally Posted by N9IWP

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...n-stuff-again/


Brian

Best comment on that post: "OK, so Supermoon is fiction. What about Batmoon, Spidermoon, and all the other superhero-moons?"

[Antigen]

I loved Neil deGrasse Tyson's Facebook post about it yesterday:

Originally Posted by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Moon Lunacy strikes again: The impending Supermoon is to an average full Moon what a 16" Pizza is to a 15" Pizza. So chillax.

[Count Blucher]

Its Cinco de Mayo and the liquor stores opened at 9 with their sales & specials. The bars & clubs will be full all day. So, of course, every bad action that people do tonight will be due to a super moon.

"Must be the full moon." "Is that why you're throwing up...?"

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by Antigen

I loved Neil deGrasse Tyson's Facebook post about it yesterday:

A 12.88% difference in area isn't nothing, though.

[Michael63129]

Originally Posted by N9IWP

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...n-stuff-again/

Brian

Indeed; the size difference is much more noticeable (easily noticed at a glance) when the Moon is close to the horizon as compared to overhead*.

*Of course, this is an optical illusion only seen with our eyes (try taking a picture of it, it will appear to be the same size).

[ftg]

I disagree with BA's assertion that you really can't tell. A couple years ago I noticed a full Moon on the horizon and was immediately caught by the size of it. I know about the illusion and all that. But I spent a lot of time as a kid out in the back yard with a telescope so I know what the Moon on the horizon looks like.

Anyway, when I got home I checked and indeed it was a super Moon.

[billfish678]

I'm gonna moon it.

Seriously.

[Malacandra]

I think I ought to party like it's the world's last night. You can't be too careful.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by billfish678

I'm gonna moon it.

Seriously.

Considering the size of my ass, it's fair to say that I may supermoon it.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

jabiru, it wasn't quite fully full at 2:35 this morning; the peak is supposed to occur at 19:35 Pacific Standard Time tonight. I'm not sure why the article I linked to mentions standard, rather than daylight, time. If you are in Australia or elsewhere in that region, you will miss the exact instant of fullness, yet that shouldn't matter too much. From here, the apparent brightness of the moon will be 16% greater than the average full moon.

Nevertheless, even last night's moon wasn't quite full I was able to discern the Rabbit In The Moon, and the Man In The Moon With Sticks--two alternate explanations in folklore for the pattern of light and dark patches visible to the naked eye. I don't know where the story of the rabbit comes from, or even if there is one. But the rabbit itself was plainly visible last night, the "ears" being formed by the Sea of Fertility and the Sea of Nectar,to the south of the Sea of Tranquility which usually figures as the left eye of the Man in the Moon.

By contrast, I am somewhat familiar the story of the man with a bundle of wood, who, according to an old myth, is the man who was

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

caught gathering sticks on the sabbath and sentenced by God to death by stoning in the book of Numbers XV.32-36[1][1].

Or

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

[as some Germanic traditions held,] he was a man caught stealing from a neighbor's hedgerow to repair his own.

There's a variant of the gathering-sticks-on-the-sabbath story in which the man says he thought it was Monday, and was therefore told he was being banished to the moon so that every day would be "moon-day" thenceforward.

Despite having seen pictures of how one is supposed to see the man carrying sticks, it wasn't till last night that I was ever able to see him clearly. You can clearly see him walking with the bundle of sticks tied across his back; the bundle is a little lower on his left side. In fact, it was startlingly reminiscent of the old U.S. Walking Liberty silver half-dollars, or for that matter the contemporary one-ounce silver bullion coins that use the same pattern. True, the Man isn't wearing a filmy dress from some gossamer-like material, but even so, as with the coin, it isn't hard to imagine that you see the folds of some kind of clothing.

So tonight it is truly the Night of the Big Ass Moon. I don't expect to see much more than I saw last night, but I'll definitely take advantage of the rare phenomenon and spend some time observing the moon.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

ETA: Tonight's large full moon is to be expected, since the new moon on May 20th will be smaller than average, thus allowing for the upcoming annular eclipse.

[Gatopescado]

Originally Posted by Michael63129

Indeed; the size difference is much more noticeable (easily noticed at a glance) when the Moon is close to the horizon as compared to overhead*.

*Of course, this is an optical illusion only seen with our eyes (try taking a picture of it, it will appear to be the same size).

Cecil did a colum about this. Can't be bothered to look it up and link it. (Not to mention not having the required mad skillz)

[billfish678]

Mission accomplished (glad my backyard is dark and secluded).

[Northern Piper]

sigh. Saskatchewan, like Minnesota, is heavily overcast.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

Earlier today there was a phone interview with an astronomer about this, on NPR. According to him the whole thing is nothing more than hype, as the degree of closeness/greater size is too minimal to be of any importance as far as the casual observer is concerned. I was surprised to hear that, since I would think that the difference in brightness to be expected--at least 16% according to my earlier link would be noticeable to anyone, unless that figure itself is the product of exaggeration.

Granted, it's the second worst time of the month to look at the moon through a telescope, but as a naked-eye object this full moon, in particular, is well worth looking at.

[billfish678]

I''ll say if you told me the moon was a smidge bigger and brighter tonight I could believe it to be true. But you are talking to someone who is very visually oriented AND baring a heavy rain or clouds makes a point of looking at the night sky for a fair bit every night for the past handful of decades.

[Sudden Kestrel]

Originally Posted by Northern Piper

sigh. Saskatchewan, like Minnesota, is heavily overcast.

Like a miracle, the clouds parted and—the moon looked pretty much like a regular full moon.

I am now going to chillax as NDT recommended.

[Malacandra]

Originally Posted by Spectre of Pithecanthropus

Nevertheless, even last night's moon wasn't quite full I was able to discern the Rabbit In The Moon, and the Man In The Moon With Sticks--two alternate explanations in folklore for the pattern of light and dark patches visible to the naked eye. I don't know where the story of the rabbit comes from, or even if there is one.

Thanks to the Children's Encyclopaedia, I can help you out there. Rabbit, in (IIRC) a "Red Indian" legend, was entertaining an important stranger but hadn't any food to give him. So he told the stranger to build a fire and, when it was well alight, hopped onto it to roast himself for his guest's dinner. He found to his surprise that the fire wouldn't cook him or even make him uncomfortable, and the god (for such it was) further rewarded his selflessness with a new home in the moon.

[LouisB]

I think I saw it rising as I crossed Iowa one bitterly cold night. Frankly it scare the hell out of me. After it was fully above the horizon I was in awe.

[Pai325]

Everyone by me was excited and posting pictures on their Facebook pages. I was driving to Champaign and could see it out the window. It looked like every other full moon. Maybe I had to see it just as it was rising, or maybe seeing it over the flat landscape made a difference, but it was no more than any other full moon. Disappointing.

[The Tao's Revenge]

Interestingly, just like superman's superhuman powers, the supermoon's extra light also comes from earth's yellow sun.

[Count Blucher]

*blatantly stolen from Einstein Moomjy*

Moon's Day was... Here...!

[Koxinga]

Everyone should sing this in honor of Supermoon.

[billfish678]

To celebrate supermoon you need pie. A special kind of pie. And here's a song about it. Link safe for work and kids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEpUN...eature=related