Super moon 2012 – Saturday night

According to NASA’s calculations – Saturday night is when the moon will hit your eye like a big pizza pie, to paraphrase Dean Martin. It’s “super moon” time.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is letting its enthusiasm show in a new video on the subject. “The timing is almost perfect” – it notes. At 11:34 p.m. EDT, May’s full moon will reach perigee – the closest point to Earth in its elliptical pattern – and “only one minute later, the moon will line up with the Earth and the sun to become gloriously full.”
For a bunch of scientists, that’s pretty poetic talk.
The moon will appear 14 percent larger than other full moons of 2012. “The swollen orb rising in the East at sunset will seem super indeed.”
This doesn’t sound like a super moon – it sounds like a super duper moon.
Anthony Cook, astronomical observer at Los Angeles’ Griffith Observatory, is a little more measured in his view of the upcoming phenomenon.
It will be 30 percent brighter, yes, but that’s 30 percent brighter than the moon is when it is at “apogee” – the farthest point in its elliptical orbit around the Earth – he said.
“I’m a little skeptical that most people would casually see that this full moon looks huge compared to the one that rises six months from now” – he said. “You’re talking about a fairly small size difference in something that’s already small.”

Super moon 2012 - Saturday night
Super moon 2012.

A lunar light show circled the globe Saturday, rewarding many moongazers with bright, crisp detail of the full moon’s craters and basins.
Called a “perigee” moon by scientists, the annual phenomenon occurs once a year.
NASA said the moon appears about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full moons.
That’s because it will be as close to Earth as it will get for a while – just over 221,000 miles away.
CNN iReporter Halldor Sigurdsson snapped the yellowish-ochre orb perched on the shoulder of a mountain overlooking Reykjavik, Iceland.
“The colors were spectacular” – wrote Sigurdsson (47). “The weather here for viewing the moon rise could not have been better.”
Residents of the mainland United States received similar conditions at 11:34 p.m., ET, the peak of this year’s “super moon.”
The best time to see the event is just as the moon crosses Earth’s horizon. The moon always looks biggest then, although the reason why is a bit of a mystery. Viewing the moon behind buildings and trees creates an optical illusion so it appears even larger, making it a perfect time to try to grab some beautiful pictures.

People in several parts of the world have already sighted the much-awaited super moon 2012. In Asia and many other areas, people have witnessed the biggest and brightest full moon of 2012 on Saturday night. In many other parts of the world including the North America, stargazers are eagerly waiting for the super moon. It is the time the moon comes closest to the earth on its orbit. Stargazers are quite excited about the event, which will show the moon 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than other full moons this year.
Pakistan’s Daily Times reports that people in the country have witnessed the full moon on Saturday night with great excitement. Enthusiasts gathered in streets, river banks and terrace tops to have a gaze at the year’s fullest moon in Lahore and other cities. “A number of people witnessed Saturday night’s ‘super moon’, which was bigger and brighter than usual, with their friends, family members and loved ones” – says the newspaper.
What is Super Moon? NASA says that super moon happens when the moon comes slightly closer to the earth than the regular situations. The super moon is noticeable as it reaches the nearest side of the earth as a full moon. The scientific term for the occurrence is “perigee moon.” It is because the closest side of the moon’s orbit (50,000 kms) is named so, when the distant side is called ‘apogee.’ Well, the super moon occurs when the moon hits the closest side. In other words, it happens when the moon is on the perigee side of the Moon’s orbit.
“Such is the case on May 5th at 11:34 pm Eastern Daylight Time when the Moon reaches perigee. Only one minute later, the Moon will line up with Earth and the sun to become brilliantly full. The timing is almost perfect” – says NASA on its web site. The time of super moon will naturally vary for each geographical location across the world. Anyway, it is the best time for you to watch the moon in its full light and brightness this year. Since the phenomenon happens only once a year, you will have to wait for next year to have a view of the super moon if you miss it this time around.
According to NASA, super moon will bring some changes in the nature; it is normal because moon is that much related to the climate of earth. “For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects” – NASA says. Dogs will bark long and seas will rise up as the moon comes closer to the earth.

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