If the moon seemed especially big and bright Saturday night -- that's because it was.
The moon was at the point on its elliptical path called perigee, the point where passes closest to Earth. At this point, it is 31,000 miles to closer than the opposite side of its orbit, or apogee.
While the full moon appears largest just after it rises, it officially reached its closest point to Earth at 11:34 pm. Exactly one minute later, the moon, Earth and sun line up and this allows the moon to achieve its full brilliance -- 30-percent brighter and 14-percent larger than any other full moon this year.
Here framed by spruce boughs, the brilliance of the full moon will have drowned out all but the brightest fireballs of the Aquarid meteor shower, also on tap Saturday night, according to NASA.
Officially, this year's supermoon was "eclipsed" by the supermoon of March 2011, which passed by Earth some 250 miles closer than this year's.
Great shots of the moon, Jim.
Great shots of the moon, Jim. Thanks for the info. I didn't get to see it last night, but these pics make up for it. :)
Thanks Mardell - the last
Thanks Mardell - the last photo was taken across the road from our home, the rest were taken from Molasses Hill Rd. When I arrived just after 8 pm there was already a trio of people on hand, carrying cameras & what looked like a spotting scope....but they weren't there to see the moon...turns out they were birders hoping to see the northern harriers and short-eared owls that have been frequenting the area.
Well that's really cool! A
Well that's really cool! A lot in common you folks have. Wonder how they made out?