This mornings moon.

[NIGHTBOY]

Anyone else see the moon this morning? Huge! Beautiful sight. Was it a supermoon??

[Kirscovitch]

It was pretty big when it rose on the 15th. First saw it around 6pm when if finally rose above the neighbors house.

[JB80]

I wouldn't know, I've been waiting for the full moon all month and it was clouded out.

At least you got to enjoy it. 

[ultramol]

I had a quick look in my scope around 5 this morning and nearly burnt my eye out !!!

[Stevie P]

No not a super moon, its actually a "mini moon", its the smallest full moon of the year.... (full on the 18th December)

[Stevie P]

No not a super moon, its actually a "mini moon", its the smallest full moon of the year.... (full on the 18th December)

Sorry should read 17th December..

[NIGHTBOY]

Small?? It was the largest I've ever seen it.

[NIGHTBOY]

Also, when Is the next super moon???

[Stevie P]

I believe that is due to to your viewing angle..

[Cornelius Varley]

Small?? It was the largest I've ever seen it.

 Its an optical illusion. When the moon is low down near the horizion it always seems larger than it really is.

[Stevie P]

Also, when Is the next super moon???

July, August and September next year is the best time as the moon will be closer to the earth than the rest of the year, to be fair there really isn't that much of a difference...

[acey]

 Its an optical illusion. When the moon is low down near the horizion it always seems larger than it really is.

Lots of reasons for the "full moon illusion" have been offered, but it seems to arise from the way our brain inteprets the moon in relation to its apparent surroundings (trees and buildings on the ground for a low moon, empty sky for a high one). We see a low full moon as mountain-distance (very big and far away) and a high one as balloon-distance (smaller and nearer). A similar illusion kicks in when we look at planets through a telescope - people see Jupiter as "pea size", even when it has the same angular size as a rising full moon viewed with the naked eye.

[Stevie P]

If you have a couple of mins to spare take a look at this

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/176431-full-moon-silhouette/

Its a big moon...

[acey]

If you have a couple of mins to spare take a look at this

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/176431-full-moon-silhouette/

Its a big moon...

Very pretty video. The people are subtending approximately an eighth of the moon's apparent diameter, i.e. 3.75 arcmin. If we take a person's height as approximately 6 feet then they must be standing just over 2 miles from the camera. Assuming it's not fake, of course. Certainly makes the moon look very big.