Super Moon

This past week the earth experienced a natural phenonomum called Super Full Moon. The scientific term is called "Perigee moon." What that means is there are two sizes of the moon, the Apogee and the Perigee. According to NASA ( I guess they would know since they have been to the moon) the moon's orbit around the earth is NOT round, but instead oval shape. Therefore every 18 to 20 years, the moon's orbit comes closer to the earth ( 50,000 km closer to be exact), allowing us a "close-up view of the moon. This eliptical orbit makes the moon appear closer and bigger than usual. Before you get to excited and start crying out "The Moon is falling!" it's still 356,577 km away or in standard measure 221,566.675 miles. I guess we don't have anything to worry about in that case. However, for me the novice photographer it was a rare chance to try to take some photographs. The first night we notice the extra brightness of the moon was Thursday night, but by the time I could have gotten set up it was too late, but I was determined to give it a try on Friday night. We had a family dinner, but I took my camera and tripod with me so I would be ready. I even checked a web page to find out the exact time the moon would be rising in our area. I got sidetracked at the family gathering, but remember a few mintues late. I ran outside and sure enough there was the orange orb shining extra brightly in the Eastern sky. I ran back in the house and said, "I've got to  go!" I dashed out to my car and drove off to find a good place to set up. I took the first few shots from the parking lot of my former school. It was still just a ways up from the horizon. There was one street light that I wished would have not been on, but they turned out okay. Here is one I took at 8:05 p.m.

Not too bad, considering I don't have a super-duper telescopic lens. I did read on some photographer web sites for help with the camera settings. I like it and would have taken more, but some creepy guy came up and just parked in his car a few feet from where I was. He didn't say anything and hopefully he was just there to look at the moon, but then he got out of his truck and started swinging on the swings on the playground. That was a little weird for me, so I packed it up and came home.

Then I noticed as I pulled in the driveway, that I had a pretty good view of the moon from my own front yard. The only street lamp is the other direction on the opposite corner, so it shouldn't interfere. I just needed to keep repositioning to try to find an unobsturcted view through the tree branches. I took this shot at almost exactly one hour later. I took it at 9:07 p.m. I think it turned out great.  You can really see some great details in the moons surface.

I have tried night shots before and they are very hard to do, especially because of camera shake. So at least I am getting a little better at that. It definitely helps to use a tripod and a remote shutter release. Interesting that the color was so different in an hours time. I wonder why? Probably the reflection of the sun, I'd guess. Here is the link to the NASA site if you want to read the technical explaination. Super Full Moon.