SuperMoon Saturday (May 5 2012)

[Moon]

This Saturday (May 5, 2012) the Moon will be what is known as a SuperMoon:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/sp ... 54691328/1

Hopefully it isn't cloudy that day for me to watch the Moon.

[Ace Rimmer]

Oh boy! it is actually suppose to be nice here. I love looking at the moon.

[Corcaigh]

Will that only be visible in America?

[Sagittarii]

Every single time an astronomical event is to take place we have a thick cloud layer and I miss them. And of course AGAIN it's supposed to rain all weekend here.

Work all week and the weather is beautiful but when you're off on the weekend it rains constantly.

[Moon]

Will that only be visible in America?

It will be visible all over the world as the Moon itself is at its closest to the Earth.

As long as you have a clear night you should be able to enjoy the show.

[Corcaigh]

As long as you have a clear night you should be able to enjoy the show.

Ooh kewl. Now all I need to do is remember to look out!!

[Sagittarii]

Well fortunately we have clear skies and the "Super Moon" is clearly visible and it looks no different than any other moon to me.

Big disappointment.

[Buzi-Blu]

I thought it looked impressive, noticeably bigger than normal. We can't expect a massive difference because that is not how the Moon's orbit works, but that's as good as it gets under normal circumstances.The film Dog Soldiers was on that night, wonder if that was deliberate. Must say, the most memorable sight of the Moon I've had was during a luna eclipse when I set binoculars on a tripod for a rock-steady view - looked quite eerie.

But remember, the Moon is always spectacular. Very unusual to have such a large planet in close orbit where you can even make out mountain ranges by eye. And precisely the right size so as to match the Sun. Remarkable, hence my remark.

[Ace Rimmer]

It doesn't look that much bigger, it's still off on the horizon right now, maybe if I could have seen it higher in the night sky it would have looked much bigger.

I love Dog Soldiers.

[Corcaigh]

Well fortunately we have clear skies and the "Super Moon" is clearly visible and it looks no different than any other moon to me.

Big disappointment.

We had cloudy skies, but around 1am (when I was going to bed) I looked out again on the off chance it'd cleared, and for a split second the clouds parted and I saw nothing out of the ordinary about the moon...

I knew that was only going to be visible in certain places on earth.

[Buzi-Blu]

The difference between minimum and maximum (at apogee and perigee):

[Rattlehead]

Here's an image I took through my 12" Dobsonian telescope. I had to use a polarizing filter - otherwise the Moon blinded me!

[Moon]

We had cloudy skies, but around 1am (when I was going to bed) I looked out again on the off chance it'd cleared, and for a split second the clouds parted and I saw nothing out of the ordinary about the moon...

I knew that was only going to be visible in certain places on earth.

The Moon was closer to the Earth on that Saturday during a full Moon. It was brighter than it usually is, but not much different than the usual Full Moon.

Since it is a Full Moon all over the world, it was visible for everyone.

I enjoyed looking at the brilliant Moon on Saturday night and it warmed up just for the occasion.

[Corcaigh]

Since it is a Full Moon all over the world, it was visible for everyone.

Yes, but the giant sized super moon wouldn't be visible everywhere, some of us are too far north for it to make any or much of a difference how close the moon is.

[Buzi-Blu]

If you could see it at all then it would look bigger, regardless of where you are. The only difference would be how high in the sky it was, I'm at 55 degrees north so it was fairly low down which makes it look better anyway. The problem with this kind of thing is too much hype and people expecting something unrealistic.

[lamplight]

rattle head that's awesome !! just getting into astro my myself . 12" dob must be huge!