What do you think about "Supermoon"?

[AstroRuz]

Hi all,

I'm just doing some research for a future project and I would love to get your ideas and thoughts about the term "Supermoon".

Majority of us know a Supermoon is just a full Moon at Perigee, but we've all probably noticed how the media loves to run with this term and blow it out of proportion. So, I'm wondering if you have any thoughts or feelings about the expression "Supermoon".

Do you like it? Do you hate it because it makes it sound all whimsical? Do you not care either way?

Any votes or comments about this would be amazing and greatly appreciated.

Many thanks, and clear skies.

[CraigT82]

I think it’s ok. If it gets people going out and looking up it can only be a good thing.

Probably be more technically correct if they called it the “slightly-larger-than usual moon” but that not quite as eye catching! 

[Astronomist]

Personally it sort of annoys me to see headlines on the internet making out as if the 'supermoon' is some spectacular and wonderous phenomena, as it only encourages people to be disappointed when they look up and see a perfectly normal looking full moon. 

I suppose though that this isn't an issue with the term 'supermoon', but rather a reflection of how the news is. 

Additionally the media seems to have collectively decided that 'stargazers' love the supermoon/ full moon; I cannot imagine where they got that idea!

[Gfamily]

It's generally meaningless, but not as meaningless as the 'Old Farmer's Almanac' names for each month's Full Moon.

The perception of the size of the Moon is far more affected by the Moon Illusion than by any change caused by its orbit position - the only time it makes a real difference is with the duration of Solar Eclipses, where the position of the Earth in its orbit also contributes.

Edited September 13 by Gfamily

[carastro]

It annoys me as it is unnecessary Hype by the media.  

[Paz]

If the exam question is what do I feel about it personally, the reality is I find the super/blood/wolf/etc moon headlines to be annoying as I think they trivialise, but I suppose those kinds of headlines are going to get more likes/clicks than a substantive astro news item, and there is something in the "any publicity is good publicity" point, who knows, maybe the next Albert Einstein or Patrick Moore's first inspiration to get interested in the universe and how the world works could be a media article of this nature.

[skyhog]

My real gripe is with the 'once in a lifetime' kind of reporting that goes with these kind of headlines. There is so much sensationalism these days for events that are mundane or relatively frequent. All of it preys on a public that have no understanding of the science being reported. I do agree though, that it does keep our hobby in the headlines.

[Elp]

As a primarily imager any moon of any shape, name or form is my enemy.

[Hawksmoor]

Relatively harmless media hyperbole.  Some folk seem to be interested and if it gets people looking up into the night sky, probably positive.
 

I quite like the names Wolf, Hunters Moon etc. I just think I would enjoy making up some silly ones and then try floating the new names on the internet to see if the media and public would buy into them. Alternatively and as well, why not  describe the full moon when furthest from the Earth as the ‘Teeny-weeny Moon’, and then naming examples ‘The Harvest -mouse Moon’ or perhaps ‘The Difficult to see and virtually invisible Moon’?  

[Chaz2b]

As my nephews use the phrase all the time when they contact me about a particular happening in the moons cycle, I guess it’s in their lexicon.

Its better than ..” have you seen the size of the bloody moon?! “

Chaz

[CentaurZ]

I am in general agreement with the responses. I'll add that the clickbait Supermoon articles often refer to a particular Supermoon as the brightest Moon of the year. That assumption is often untrue, since the Earth-Moon distance is not the only factor in determining brightness. Also to be considered are the Sun-Moon distance, and the angular separation between the Moon and the antisolar point on the ecliptic.  The latter factor is the reason that the Moon near the entrance or exit of the Earth's penumbra for a lunar eclipse is sometimes the brightest Moon of the year even if not technically a Supermoon.

Of course, all of this assumes a fictional geocentric observer. If the Moon is in a real observer's zenith, it will be bigger and brighter than for someone who sees that same Moon near the horizon. Then again, a well-known optical illusion may cause the latter to think his Moon is bigger.

 

 

Edited September 14 by CentaurZ

[globular]

You won't believe this person's extraordinary opinion of the unique supermoon - CLICK HERE NOW 

[saac]

It doesn't bother me at all. These tend to be filler news items anyway and come round as regular as, well the Moon's orbit!  We get the same thing each year on school exam results day with the familiar played out scenes of pupils opening exam results followed by lots of jumping up and down. After awhile you get immune to it all but it does no harm.  

Jim 

Edited September 14 by saac

[Space Hopper]

Basically nonsense.

Media hype and nothing more.

And i'm cool with Lunar being at apogee or perigee or whatever in between.

Through my scope and a pair of binoviewers, it never disappoints.

[CentaurZ]

5 hours ago, CentaurZ said:

I am in general agreement with the responses. I'll add that the clickbait Supermoon articles often refer to a particular Supermoon as the brightest Moon of the year. That assumption is often untrue, since the Earth-Moon distance is not the only factor in determining brightness. Also to be considered are the Sun-Moon distance, and the angular separation between the Moon and the antisolar point on the ecliptic.  The latter factor is the reason that the Moon near the entrance or exit of the Earth's penumbra for a lunar eclipse is sometimes the brightest Moon of the year even if not technically a Supermoon.

Of course, all of this assumes a fictional geocentric observer. If the Moon is in a real observer's zenith, it will be bigger and brighter than for someone who sees that same Moon near the horizon. Then again, a well-known optical illusion may cause the latter to think his Moon is bigger.

 

 

Below are my data for the ten widest and brightest Full Moons during 2000-2099. There are no matches between the lists. Note which list contains eclipses (actually near the entrance or exit of the penumbral phase).

Edited September 14 by CentaurZ

[Gonariu]

I agree with you all, journalists don't know what to write and they put these pleasantries in to fill a space in the newspaper that would otherwise remain blank. As you all know there is a big difference between a perihelic and an aphelic opposition of Mars, perhaps journalists did not notice or pretended nothing had happened: I foresee future byzantinisms on the Martians and the canals of the Red Planet .......

[AstroRuz]

Thanks for all the input on this topic everyone. There seems to be a general consensus of indifference or dislike. But it is good to see the reasons and thoughts as to why. Good research here, many thanks!

[Sunshine]

Every month there’s some sort of whimsical moon nonsense going on. On every occasion I would walk outside and my reaction would be about as exciting as watching paint dry. To media outlets everywhere, please don’t bother me with moon nonsense, if it isn’t an eclipse or the moon exploding into bits, I don’t care.

As for these medie moon reports doing some good by getting people to look up, I’ll say that every time some new moon nonsense comes up in the media the next day I always hear from a neighbor or two who went outside to look and they saw nothing but the moon. If anything it makes us amateurs seem like an odd bunch.

Edited September 15 by Sunshine

[Jim Franklin]

On 13/09/2024 at 18:01, AstroRuz said:

Hi all,

I'm just doing some research for a future project and I would love to get your ideas and thoughts about the term "Supermoon".

Majority of us know a Supermoon is just a full Moon at Perigee, but we've all probably noticed how the media loves to run with this term and blow it out of proportion. So, I'm wondering if you have any thoughts or feelings about the expression "Supermoon".

Do you like it? Do you hate it because it makes it sound all whimsical? Do you not care either way?

Any votes or comments about this would be amazing and greatly appreciated.

Many thanks, and clear skies.

I get they are just trying to clickbait headlines and is a form of marketing - but personally, it irritates the hell out of me, not so much the "supermoon" monika per se, but more the "blood moon", "Farmers Moon" - bla bla bla - we have a full Mopon every 28 days, and every 28 days some numbskull is giving it some silly name. 

Call me a cantacterous old fart all you like - but I do not need some silly name to look at or appreciate the Moon, full or otherwise. The difference in the size of the Moon, around 13%, is awesome at some perigees, but there is no need to hype the hell out of it either. 

[Mandy D]

An ineresting article that talks a bit about the apparent Moon size as seen by a visual observer. Not really anything to do with supermoons, but may interest some.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/11/science/lloyd-kaufman-dead.html

[Ags]

If you really want the Super Moon experience, just go about 4 billion years back 

[Jim Franklin]

Here is a table showing how much bigger the Moon would have appeared at 50 million year intervals back to 1 billion years ago:

Time (Million Years Ago)	Average Distance to Moon (km)	Apparent Size (% Change)
0	384,400	0.00%
50	382,500	+0.50%
100	380,600	+1.00%
150	378,700	+1.51%
200	376,800	+2.02%
250	374,900	+2.53%
300	373,000	+3.06%
350	371,100	+3.58%
400	369,200	+4.12%
450	367,300	+4.66%
500	365,400	+5.20%
550	363,500	+5.75%
600	361,600	+6.31%
650	359,700	+6.87%
700	357,800	+7.43%
750	355,900	+8.01%
800	354,000	+8.59%
850	352,100	+9.17%
900	350,200	+9.77%
950	348,300	+10.36%
1000	346,400	+10.97%

[saac]

I live in a rural part of Scotland, pretty much side by side with the farming community. I do like the references to the seasonal Moons that are tied to the land. I also like that we have adopted some of these names from other cultures, mainly native American I think.  These names are part of our heritage and it's good to learn about their origin and use.  I would hate for them to be lost to future generations. 

Jim

[icpn]

I believe the term was coined by astrologers for some banal reason

[Jim Franklin]

On 16/09/2024 at 09:01, icpn said:

I believe the term was coined by astrologers for some banal reason

Astrologers are a banal reason of existance 😂