BIG Moon tonight
Carlos_dfc
Posts: 8,262 Forum Member
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If you have a clear sky tonight - take a look at the Moon - preferably the sooner the better.
The Moon's orbit is slightly elliptical - and tonight is quite a rarity in that the Full Moon coincides with it's perihelion (the point where it is closest to Earth)
Average distance to the moon is around 385,000km - but tonight's full Moon comes when it is 'only' a little over 350,000km away.
Doesn't sound much - but the effect is that the Moon will appear around 14% bigger than usual, and may well be noticeably brighter too.
Added to that - the fact that the Moon appears to be bigger, when it is low in the sky - means that if you get a chance to see it when it's low tonight - it could be quite impressive.
Don't hang around though if you want to see the effect at it's best - if you have a clear view to the horizon, it will have just risen a little while ago.
The Moon's orbit is slightly elliptical - and tonight is quite a rarity in that the Full Moon coincides with it's perihelion (the point where it is closest to Earth)
Average distance to the moon is around 385,000km - but tonight's full Moon comes when it is 'only' a little over 350,000km away.
Doesn't sound much - but the effect is that the Moon will appear around 14% bigger than usual, and may well be noticeably brighter too.
Added to that - the fact that the Moon appears to be bigger, when it is low in the sky - means that if you get a chance to see it when it's low tonight - it could be quite impressive.
Don't hang around though if you want to see the effect at it's best - if you have a clear view to the horizon, it will have just risen a little while ago.
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So yes OP your quite correct
Cloudy skies outside so will miss it
Apparently it would be an excellent night for seeing shooting stars as well.
When it's straight up, it will be a little bigger than it is for someone at the same time who sees it near the horizon - because it will be nearer by roughly the radius of the Earth.
However - for the person seeing it near the hrizon, it will SEEM to be bigger because of an effect known as the 'Moon illusion'
When it's low enough for your brain to compare it with trees, buildings etc....it seems bigger than when it's high up in the open sky, with no familiar objects near enough for comparison.
G
Yep - peak of the Geminids shower is tonight.
Although - meteor showers are best when the Moon isn't up, washing out the background sky.
Two blondes talking... One said to the other 'What's further, the Moon or Florida?' The other blonde replied 'Hellooo..! Can you see Florida??'
Like the customer who complains to his optician that he can't see very far with his new specs....
Optician - What's that bright yellow thing in the sky
Customer - Duh! - It's the Sun.
Optician- How f'in far do you WANT to see?
there will be at my end
Ah right. And yes, I'd have thought it was better without the extra light.
Was the Geminids show on last week too? I ventured out in the cold to have a look at the planets and managed to see a shooting star. I was surprised given the amount of light pollution here.
Meteor showers are rarely one-night affairs.
The Geminids last from about the 8th to the 17th December.
The 'peak' is tonight - but you can see Geminids at any time between those dates - just not so many as on the night of the peak.
As well as the regular annual showers - you can see a random 'sporadic' at any time.
If light-pollution is bad, you'll see fewer (you won't see the dimmer ones)
I guess it was the geminids then. I've done midnight rambles as a kid in wales and only seen 1 or 2 shooting stars all night. I saw this one almost as soon as I got outside.