Super moon

[Stephen Swain]

Was hoping someone could tell, is the super moon tonight or tomorrow night ?

[Davey-T]

It's tonight.

Dave

[Fey]

Supermoon will peak between 1 and 2 January 2018, at around 02:24 GMT

[Cosmic Geoff]

The 'supermoon' is really a media invention. For some reason the news channels like to make a thing of it. The moon does vary in apparent size, but you'd need measuring instruments to spot the difference.   At least it's less annoying than their tendency to report lunar eclipses after the event.

[Ruud]

I heard the term was invented by an astrologer in the 1970's, to distinguish his horoscopes from those of his competitors.

 

[Stu]

12 minutes ago, Ruud said:

I heard the term was invented by an astrologer in the 1970's, to distinguish his horoscopes from those of his competitors.

 

That in itself is reason enough for me not to use the term!  

[Ruud]

In knew an astrologer once. I asked her how Uranus affected us. The I asked her if that was why Uranus was knows to exist by astrologers before it was discovered. Because of all the unique effects it has on us. She answered that Uranus only started having its effects after it was discovered.

Astrology is amazing!

A 'super Moon' is of course a full moon at perigee. Once per month the Moon is at perigee, the closest point of it's orbit to earth. Arguably, you can see it better then because it looks a bit larger, but the difference is not so big that it is obvious.

Unfortunately, full Moon is when we see the least detail on the Moon, for lack of shadows.

For amateur Moon observers, the Moon is more super when it is at perigee around first or last quarter: being slightly bigger than usual and having a well placed terminator with large shadows to emphasize its topography.

One thing is true about the Moon: The majority of births occur within one week of either a full or new Moon. Well over ninety percent. That should mean something!

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Ruud said:

One thing is true about the Moon: The majority of births occur within one week of either a full or new Moon. Well over ninety percent. That should mean something!

 a truly convincing argument  

[kev]

Out v interest. Not only is the moon at peri, so is the earth, so i sssume that makes it slightly brighter than yur average full moon. Anyone know by how much.  Im guessing a few %. 

[Stephen Swain]

I was out around 12.30 last night to watch the super moon and it was bright, my 70076 telescope ain't up to much bout had a few good views of the moon and a few stars but in the end I'll will need a bigger better telescope to really see the night sky. Stars are great to view but the moon will always be number one viewing point for me as it is still a big question mark