Upcoming full moon , 19th March

ninja 12 · 10-03-2011 10:28am #1

Hopefully , it'll be a clear night -

The world is set to experience the biggest full moon for almost two decades when the satellite reaches its closest point to Earth next weekend.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/38/20110309/tsc-world-to-see-biggest-full-moon-in-tw-98fda55.html

.

Penfailed · 10-03-2011 10:35am

Must keep an eye out

I haven't been able to see anything of late. Missed the aurora and the last couple of meteor showers due to clouds.

Davaeo09 · 10-03-2011 3:28pm

Penfailed wrote: »

Must keep an eye out I haven't been able to see anything of late. Missed the aurora and the last couple of meteor showers due to clouds.

Snap, but this should be hard to miss

ger vallely · 10-03-2011 6:07pm

Yaay,it will be my 40th birthday on the 19th,nice of the universe to put on such a show just for moi! Seriously though,I do hope it will be clear.

Agonist · 10-03-2011 6:53pm

What's the best way to get a photo of the moon looking really big?
I know it will look biggest at the horizon but would a cityscape make it look more impressive than say a seascape? I have loads of pictures of full moons looking like a pea in the sky.

clln · 12-03-2011 2:18am

ninja 12 wrote: »

Hopefully , it'll be a clear night -

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/38/20110309/tsc-world-to-see-biggest-full-moon-in-tw-98fda55.html

.

ninja 12 when i awoke to the really awful News Friday morning the article you had posted in the link above leapt into my mind,almost prophetic post by you.

i think the comments by the first 'expert' must make him feel like a real fool today.

i am not one to be supersticious,in fact i would walk under a ladder rather than around it to prove a point.

surely this is moving away from popular science misconceptions to something that has to be taken very seriously by Humankind ?
research is needed now more than ever IMO to ensure our planets survival.
it is so fragile.
instead almost all finance is going into the military use of space,what short sighted fools!:mad:

like most people i hate RIP threads but forgive me for saying how much empathy i feel for all those directly affected.

rccaulfield · 12-03-2011 7:19pm

clln wrote: »

ninja 12 when i awoke to the really awful News Friday morning the article you had posted in the link above leapt into my mind,almost prophetic post by you.

i think the comments by the first 'expert' must make him feel like a real fool today.

i am not one to be supersticious,in fact i would walk under a ladder rather than around it to prove a point.

surely this is moving away from popular science misconceptions to something that has to be taken very seriously by Humankind ?
research is needed now more than ever IMO to ensure our planets survival.
it is so fragile.
instead almost all finance is going into the military use of space,what short sighted fools!:mad:

like most people i hate RIP threads but forgive me for saying how much empathy i feel for all those directly affected.

Are you saying the ellipsed orbit of the moon that is at its closest in 7 days caused the recent earthquake in Japan 2 days ago?

Agonist · 13-03-2011 12:50am

Agonist wrote: »

What's the best way to get a photo of the moon looking really big?
I know it will look biggest at the horizon but would a cityscape make it look more impressive than say a seascape? I have loads of pictures of full moons looking like a pea in the sky.

I worked it out and I'll post it in case someone else want to photograph it.

I need to have any items in the foreground (buildings, trees) very far away from me. The tiny houses will emphasise the size of the moon.

Sorry for asking such an easy question!

clln · 14-03-2011 3:54pm

rccaulfield wrote: »

Are you saying the ellipsed orbit of the moon that is at its closest in 7 days caused the recent earthquake in Japan 2 days ago?

Hi RC,no i am not saying that but this extract from the article did make me think,coincidence can only happen so often before Science should begin to wonder.

This phenomenon has reportedly heightened concerns about 'supermoons' being linked to extreme weather events - such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. The last time the moon passed close to the Earth was on 10 January 2005, around the time of the Indonesian earthquake that measured 9.0 on the Richter scale.
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was also associated with an unusually large full moon.
Previous supermoons occurred in 1955, 1974 and 1992 - each of these years experienced extreme weather events, killing thousands of people.

I thought Dr Tim O Brian was too dismissive,but Dr Viston Goston gave a very plausible explanation.

Here's the thing and i mean it as a genuine question not a rhetorical one if you or anyone here could give the answer.

surely these 'SuperMoons' do not just have an effect on the day of closest distance?
Would'nt the Moon gradually be getting closest to its shortest distance sometime beforehand?
i honestly do not know.

Tenger · 16-03-2011 1:40pm

Perhaps a simplisitic question but the looking at the Moon last night it didn't seem very much larger then normal. (Compared to previous nights I have noticed its size)
With 3 days to go can it get that much closer?
That article says it will be 18% larger than normal, but last night it looked maybe smaller than normal?

seamus · 16-03-2011 2:01pm

"Larger than normal" is hard to say because your eye plays all sorts of tricks on you. The closer it is to the horizon, the bigger it looks, the higher in the sky, the smaller it looks. This isn't an optical effect or illusion, but a trick of the eye which alters your perception of far away objects.

I imagine if you catch it low on the horizon on the 19th, it'll look enormous.

Tenger · 16-03-2011 3:49pm

seamus wrote: »

"Larger than normal" is hard to say because your eye plays all sorts of tricks on you. The closer it is to the horizon, the bigger it looks, the higher in the sky, the smaller it looks........

I imagine if you catch it low on the horizon on the 19th, it'll look enormous.

Well it was quite high last night so that must be it. Was out at about 2030 last night. Good visibility, could discern the colour of Betelgeuse.

rccaulfield · 18-03-2011 7:06pm

clln wrote: »

Hi RC,no i am not saying that but this extract from the article did make me think,coincidence can only happen so often before Science should begin to wonder.

I thought Dr Tim O Brian was too dismissive,but Dr Viston Goston gave a very plausible explanation.

Here's the thing and i mean it as a genuine question not a rhetorical one if you or anyone here could give the answer.

surely these 'SuperMoons' do not just have an effect on the day of closest distance?
Would'nt the Moon gradually be getting closest to its shortest distance sometime beforehand?
i honestly do not know.

Well the moons only possible influence on the earth can be its gravity similar to say jupiter sqeezing europa although on a minute scale compared to that of course. So surely it can only be on the day or around the day that any theory of a supermoons influence could be obtained and not when its on the opposite side of its elliptical orbit? I've already said how far away it was from Japan and Jan 10th is along way away from Dec26th 2005 leaving the moon further away then average. Thats my amatuer opinion anyway, it seems like it deserves study but the reasons given are up there with astrology!

Shulgin · 18-03-2011 7:40pm

The moon looks noticably larger and brighter tonight. Should this be the case the night before the peak or is it just sky conditions?

clln · 18-03-2011 8:13pm

rccaulfield wrote: »

but the reasons given are up there with astrology!

I foresaw that you would say that RC!

roryc1 · 18-03-2011 8:33pm

It dose look bigger alright, pretty cool
I must say

Yakult · 19-03-2011 12:56am

Looks amazing tonight, so bright and clear.

im invisible · 19-03-2011 8:06am

moonrise at about 18:50 this evening, setting at 10 to 6 tomorrow morning,

from here

sdanseo · 19-03-2011 4:06pm

Let's just hope this shíte gets out of the way. Chances are we won't see it rising but setting, maybe:

http://met.ie/latest/rainfall_radar.asp

encore1 · 19-03-2011 4:27pm

quick question...

only twice have i ever seen the moon when it was GIGANTIC (and orange looking) and when i say GIGANTIC, i mean HUGE to the point that when i saw it, i actually got a fright cos i didnt know wtf it was! (someone said it's called a harvest moon...?) both times, it was very low in the sky and then once it got high, it just looked like a normal bright moon (i suppose like last nights moon - yes, it was impressive, but nothing like what i'm refering to), so my question is - will the moon this eve be like what i saw before?

its quite cloudy here (typical, same thing happened on second passing of ISS and shuttle), so i'll prob miss it tonight, but if i caught it on its way back down early in the morning, would it be as big then as when it's rising this eve, seeing as though it'll be back down lower to the horizon? or am i just being thick?!!

i have the camera and tripod all set for action and have been looking forward to this all fekkin week...

sdanseo · 19-03-2011 4:41pm

encore1 wrote: »

quick question...

only twice have i ever seen the moon when it was GIGANTIC (and orange looking) and when i say GIGANTIC, i mean HUGE to the point that when i saw it, i actually got a fright cos i didnt know wtf it was! (someone said it's called a harvest moon...?) both times, it was very low in the sky and then once it got high, it just looked like a normal bright moon (i suppose like last nights moon - yes, it was impressive, but nothing like what i'm refering to), so my question is - will the moon this eve be like what i saw before?

its quite cloudy here (typical, same thing happened on second passing of ISS and shuttle), so i'll prob miss it tonight, but if i caught it on its way back down early in the morning, would it be as big then as when it's rising this eve, seeing as though it'll be back down lower to the horizon? or am i just being thick?!!

i have the camera and tripod all set for action and have been looking forward to this all fekkin week...

It's only 600 miles nearer now than it was at the start of the month; it always looks a good bit bigger as it rises because of atmospheric distortion - or so I read.

I'd say that translates to meaning that it will be huge looking for a good few days still - just that today is the only day you'll catch a full moon as well.

RichieC · 19-03-2011 4:48pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh11iPdo_Hs

Tenger · 19-03-2011 5:15pm

sdonn wrote: »

It's only 600 miles nearer now than it was at the start of the month; it always looks a good bit bigger as it rises because of atmospheric distortion - or so I read.

Well at 0530 this morning it was very impressive, yellow and hovering menacingly over the horizon. Tried to take a shot but my camera wasn't up to the low light levels

Cú Giobach · 19-03-2011 8:08pm

sdonn wrote: »

It's only 600 miles nearer now than it was at the start of the month; it always looks a good bit bigger as it rises because of atmospheric distortion - or so I read.

Though it seems totally counter intuitive when the moon is looking huge on the horizon it is actually smaller than when it is high in the sky.
The effect of it appearing big is caused by having things on the horizon and in the distance (trees, buildings, mountains etc) and by using these as a frame of reference the brain is fooled into thinking the moon is bigger than when alone in the sky.
If you were to measure the Moon on the horizon and again when high (it's been done) this optical illusion would become apparent, it's slightly smaller because it's further away from you and gets closer as the Earth rotates "under it" until it's directly overhead and at its closest.

Cloudy here now but a lovely "glow" to the sky.

Agonist · 19-03-2011 8:18pm

encore1 wrote: »

quick question...

only twice have i ever seen the moon when it was GIGANTIC (and orange looking) and when i say GIGANTIC, i mean HUGE to the point that when i saw it, i actually got a fright cos i didnt know wtf it was! (someone said it's called a harvest moon...?) both times, it was very low in the sky and then once it got high, it just looked like a normal bright moon (i suppose like last nights moon - yes, it was impressive, but nothing like what i'm refering to), so my question is - will the moon this eve be like what i saw before?

I've seen this a couple of times. Once the moon was misshapen too, more oval than round. I think it's because of some specific atmospheric pollution. The moon won't necessarily be affected by that at the moment.

lord lucan · 19-03-2011 10:10pm

All i seen were feckin' raindrops!:(

clln · 19-03-2011 10:22pm

lord lucan wrote: »

All i seen were feckin' raindrops!:(

Awwwwwwwwww, all together now,poor Lord Lucan!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VILWkqlQLWk

P.S it is Tim Kopra's bike

CO19 · 19-03-2011 10:26pm

Can't see a thing thanks to good oul clouds ! never fail to disappoint :rolleyes:

19-03-2011 10:30pm

check this out. Very bright moon over Hekla (Volcano , Iceland)
Looks amazing.

http://www.ruv.is/hekla

Penfailed · 20-03-2011 3:06am

Penfailed wrote: »

Missed the aurora and the last couple of meteor showers due to clouds.

FFS! More clouds

Agonist · 20-03-2011 4:48am

The sky is clearer now and there'll be some light in the sky soon. I'm heading out soon to see if I can get some photos before it sets at 6

Edit: Complete wash out. Miserable bloody Ireland

ScottStorm · 20-03-2011 9:39am

Like many of you I missed the super moon thanks to total cloud cover in my area.

However I had an awesome dream in which there where 2 super moons in the sky and one was a 2 tone swirling gas type. So that cheered me up somewhat.

rccaulfield · 20-03-2011 10:03am

Gotta laugh at the Irish weather lol!

clln · 20-03-2011 10:59am

[QUOTE=rccaulfield;71255099]Gotta laugh at the Irish weather lol![/QUOTE]

Oh well,anybody know what the long term weather forecast for 18 years time is?

this blogger takes a witty look at a video released by NASA to reassure concerned members of the public.......like erm me who were concerned about possible dire effects to the planet!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20045003-71.html

jimbis · 20-03-2011 12:45pm

ScottStorm wrote: »

However I had an awesome dream in which there where 2 super moons in the sky and one was a 2 tone swirling gas type. So that cheered me up somewhat.

Thats weird! So did i.....:eek: well without the swirling gas type one though.

MoonDancer · 20-03-2011 3:16pm

jimbis wrote: »

Thats weird! So did i.....:eek: well without the swirling gas type one though.

LMAO, I had a dream Saturn was about to crash into Earth & we were all told to stay in bed to make finding people easier after, don't think there would be much after that to be honest!!

clln · 20-03-2011 3:17pm

Nobody from the A&S forum catch a pic of the 'SuperMoon'?:(
fifteen images of it at Moonrise taken around the Globe at link below.
number 11 has to be my favourite!

http://www.space.com/11178-supermoon-photos-2011-skywatcher-images.html

Tenger · 20-03-2011 7:55pm

Agonist wrote: »

......I'm heading out soon to see if I can get some photos before it sets at 6

Edit: Complete wash out. Miserable bloody Ireland

Same here. Had the alarm set for 0520. Wife told me I was mad........she laughed away at 1000 when I told her I didn't get any shots......

Heres 2 I saw on flickr.com:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baubcat/5541155627/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjbailey/5540602127/

popflop · 20-03-2011 10:30pm

Still cloudy but you can still get a glimps of it. It may not be as big as last nights buts its certainly bigger than usual?

mickger844posts · 20-03-2011 10:37pm

Nice and clear here in Waterford and the moon is super bright

encore1 · 20-03-2011 10:56pm

ScottStorm wrote: »

Like many of you I missed the super moon thanks to total cloud cover in my area.

However I had an awesome dream in which there where 2 super moons in the sky and one was a 2 tone swirling gas type. So that cheered me up somewhat.

that's after puting a huge smile on my face!

Shulgin · 20-03-2011 11:11pm

MoonDancer wrote: »

LMAO, I had a dream Saturn was about to crash into Earth & we were all told to stay in bed to make finding people easier after, don't think there would be much after that to be honest!!

Sounds like a cool dream !