Today only, 14% more Moon for free

[The Magic Pudding]

March 16, 2011: Mark your calendar. On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It's a super "perigee moon"--the biggest in almost 20 years.

"The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993," says Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC. "I'd say it's worth a look."

Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. It is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other (apogee): diagram. Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon's orbit.

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/sc ... supermoon/

Sounds good, I think I'll brave the mosquitoes and their accompanying illnesses and take a look.

[wildfire_emissary]

Man, that is a bad omen in this part of the world. The moon's perigee is being blamed for the events in Japan. Of course, it's slippery slope to the end of the world. Ugh! The ignorance.  

[The Magic Pudding]

I didn't get a decent photo, blame it on equipment, ability or lack of battery charge.  
Anyway I did like the moon's light coming across the water.
No edges haven fallen off the coast and no more than average werewolf activity reported.

[Davin]

The werewolves will be 14% stronger.

[Whitney]

I didn't get a decent photo, blame it on equipment, ability or lack of battery charge.  
Anyway I did like the moon's light coming across the water.
No edges haven fallen off the coast and no more than average werewolf activity reported.

what kind of trees are those...they look like something is pulling up on their needles.

[JuggernautJon]

The moon is absolutely breathtaking tonight. I wonder what effects, if any, it will have on the tide.

[The Magic Pudding]

what kind of trees are those...they look like something is pulling up on their needles.

That's probably a southern hemisphere thing, our hair stands on end as well, unless we take measures to keep it down.
The tree is a Norfolk Island Pine, the trees grow large and straight and were thought to be a potential source for ship masts, they weren't any good for that though.  The Bounty mutineer descendants ended up on Norfolk after outgrowing Pitcairn Island.

[Heretical Rants]

Meh, it will only be slightly smaller next month.

[McQ]

The moon is absolutely breathtaking tonight. I wonder what effects, if any, it will have on the tide.

Every month it has a greater effect on the tide when it's at perigee, so this is not going to make any perceptible difference. I doubt anyone will even notice the apparent size difference, although it is there. Here's a nice article by Phil Plait on it:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badas ... more-29783

[McQ]

I went with the "just go out and shoot it" idea. Didn't even bother doing something artistic and nice like Magic Pudding (great scene, by the way, very pretty). So here's my "Supermoon" shot.

Equipment: Nikon D3s, 300mm f/2.8 VR lens with 1.4X teleconverter.
Exif Data:

RAW image
Manual Exposure
Shutter: 1/2000
ISO 200
Aperture 4.0

[MikeyV]

Very nice Shot, McQ!

[JuggernautJon]

Wowzers! That is an awesome shot!

[The Magic Pudding]

Wowzers! That is an awesome shot!

+1

[Heretical Rants]

Meh, it will only be slightly smaller next month.

Ehh... seriously, though, we never care about it when it's the largest half-moon in ten thousand years. Only full moon.

No waning crescent fans, either? Hmmm...

[Sweetdeath]

The werewolves will be 14% stronger.

Lol! Priceless <3

I actually got a perfect view of the moon on that night from my bedroom window.  Awesomely enough, my mum bought me a mini telescope a week before. I didn't get any photos, but I disgress. It was quite the spectacle *___*