f1/32 ISO100 300mm All kinds of shutter speed bracketing, can't remember this one
Like all superlative statements I hear about astronomy in the general media, I was skeptical of this one. Every August, for example, I see floating around the internet a news item: Mars will be closer to Earth than it has been in 50,000 years! Skywatchers take note! Unfortunately, when this was originally circulated, the year was omitted. This was true... in 2003; it has been endlessly circulating since.
So, when I heard about this business with an Extreme SuperMoon happening, the closest the moon has been in 18 years, I decided to look a few things up.
Here's where I went:
Wikipedia: Clean and quick info, with dates of SuperMoons
Universe Today: "SuperMoon" or "SuperHype"?
Richard Nolle: Coiner of the word "SuperMoon"
As it turns out, a regular SuperMoon (or, more technically, perigee-syzygy) happens pretty frequently - a few times a year. Extreme SuperMoons happen often enough - every few years. There was an extreme SuperMoon that happened 18 years ago, and it's possible the intervening ones between then and now qualified as extreme SuperMoons, but just weren't quite as close as on March 8th, 1993.
So, it was a real thing. Actual perceived difference between the extreme SuperMoon and a regular full moon: not huge. I always enjoy moon-gazing though, so an excuse to do that is welcome.
Like all superlative statements I hear about astronomy in the general media, I was skeptical of this one. Every August, for example, I see floating around the internet a news item: Mars will be closer to Earth than it has been in 50,000 years! Skywatchers take note! Unfortunately, when this was originally circulated, the year was omitted. This was true... in 2003; it has been endlessly circulating since.
So, when I heard about this business with an Extreme SuperMoon happening, the closest the moon has been in 18 years, I decided to look a few things up.
Here's where I went:
Wikipedia: Clean and quick info, with dates of SuperMoons
Universe Today: "SuperMoon" or "SuperHype"?
Richard Nolle: Coiner of the word "SuperMoon"
As it turns out, a regular SuperMoon (or, more technically, perigee-syzygy) happens pretty frequently - a few times a year. Extreme SuperMoons happen often enough - every few years. There was an extreme SuperMoon that happened 18 years ago, and it's possible the intervening ones between then and now qualified as extreme SuperMoons, but just weren't quite as close as on March 8th, 1993.
So, it was a real thing. Actual perceived difference between the extreme SuperMoon and a regular full moon: not huge. I always enjoy moon-gazing though, so an excuse to do that is welcome.
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