Sunday, June 23, 2013

NASA Photo of the Day

Yesterday:

Perigee's Full Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Anthony Ayiomamitis (TWAN)
Explanation: A big, bright, beautiful Full Moon will rise at sunset on Sunday. Its exact full phase (June 23, 11:32 UT) will occur shortly before it reaches perigee, the closest point to Earth in the Moon's orbit, and make it the largest Full Moon of 2013. But such circumstances are not very rare. The full lunar phase falls near the Moon's orbit perigee about every 14 lunar months. That means the following Full Perigee Moon will be on August 10, 2014, the 14th Full Moon after June 23. On May 5, 2012, 14 Full Moons ago, this inspired telescopic night skyscape captured the Full Perigee Moon rising over Cape Sounion, Greece and the ancient Temple of Poseidon.
I had just seen a bunch of "supermoon" headlines, and was wondering how often we got that, since it seemed like they were talking about it just a few months ago.  There's the answer.

No comments:

Post a Comment