Is it going to be nice out on saturday till sunday

The Moon was closer in 2008. On March 14th I initiated a thread on this subject with a link to my graphics (although without the hyperbole) titled “Full Moon at Perigee – 2011 MAR 19” in the Tranquility Base forum: astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Lunar&action=display&thread=3075

For some reason the popular media is making a bigger deal out of this than is warranted. Full Moon at perigee occurs every 14 lunar months. In some of those cases the Moon is slightly closer than others. The Moon was most recently closer during the Full Moon of 2008 DEC, not 1993 as reported in the popular media. Unfortunately for North Americans, this month the times of maximum illumination and perigee occur during the middle of the day, so the best we could expect occurred last night and will again tonight.

It’s also sad the way the popular media often ascribes the Moon’s varying distances to its “elliptical” or “oval” orbit. Its orbit is almost perfectly circular, only slightly elliptical. Perigee and apogee occur at opposite ends of the orbit’s major (long) axis. The slightly smaller minor axis has nothing to do with perigee. What produces the varying distances is the orbit’s eccentricity, not its ellipticity. Yes, there is a complex mathematical correlation between the two, but that is irrelevant to this discussion. Eccentricity is a measure of the amount by which the Earth is not located at the exact center of the Moon’s orbit. That eccentricity varies dramatically over a course of just three months.

Rites of Spring should be practiced at all levels of anti-sobriety in the intense Moonlight of tonight.

The Taliban hates it when we do.

Moon Burn Joe

We did make the news...although from a safe distance....



We noticed the Fox news crew set up in the distance and it seems that they noticed us as well. You can see me and the C11 in this still from the live news segment during the event.

They should have come down to where the action was.

I was able to avoid the hype directly from the mainstream media, but I knew something was going on when people not all that interested in astronomy started asking me about Saturday’s “Super Moon.” I knew I had to be out somewhere for a public viewing. Initially I thought about staying close to home, but knowing that 1) the Chicago lakefront by Adler Planetarium is the best place I know to watch a full Moon rise, and 2) Joe Guzman was assembling the Chicago Astronomer crew for a “Super Moon” session, I knew where I belonged. Besides, Hillary had missed out on Wednesday’s Chicago Parks District observation, so I knew she wanted to go.

The Moon was full at 1:10 PM CDST, and at perigee 2:09 CDST, well before the 7:30 Moonrise time, so really, the whole ordeal was anti-climactic. Joe stated on the Chicago Astronomer website that we would assemble at 7 PM, but I wanted to get there early, to try to catch the Sun setting, almost due west, and maybe catch Mercury and Jupiter while they are paired together. We arrived just after 6 PM, and found Joe already on site. Unlike when I saw him Wednesday, we had a few free minutes to talk and catch up. By 6:30 we were ready to haul gear down to the lakefront and set up at a leisurely pace.

The sky was clear all afternoon, but we were well aware that the forecast for the Moonrise was questionable. Even as we set up telescopes, a cloud front was moving in from the west to the southeast. I thought maybe it would stay far enough south to let see the Moonrise, but soon enough it was clear that we wouldn’t see the Moon peek directly over the Lake. I overheard many different times for the Moonrise, some saying 7:20, others 7:26, but the local Northwest Indiana newspaper gave a Moonrise time of 7:28 PM, so that was what I was going by.







By 7 PM about 100 people were gathered along the lakefront and the spiral stones where our telescopes were set up. By 7:30 that number had at least doubled, many setting up cameras on tripods. Joe and I had the only telescopes, so quite a few of the assembled crowd came over to talk to us, asking details about the “Super Moon,” when would the Moon rise, and would we see anything. I didn’t know many of the particulars, but explained that the media was over-hyping the event, but was glad to see so many people come out to witness it.






The crowd begins to arrive.




Joe talking to a friend.









As we were setting up, Joe and I were discussing where the Moon would come up at. Being a full Moon just before the equinox, I thought it would come up nearly due east, maybe just slightly south. At the center of the spiral galaxy stones are four large stones aligned to the cardinal compass points, so it would be easy to judge due east. Joe said Super Moon would rise further south, about one fist (10 degrees) south of due east.




I thought Super Moon would come up just right of the tree, but Joe has the C11 almost dead-on where it first appeared.


By 7:30 I was scanning the distant clouds where Lake Michigan seemed to drop off, looking for a tell-tale sign of light in the clouds. Around 7:35 I saw a slight shade of pink in a cloud, confirmed it with my binoculars, and called out, “We’ve got the Moon!” One of the photographers along the lakefront cleverly responded, “Then pull your pants up!” Sheesh.






First image of Super Moon peeking through the clouds.







There was still hope that the Super Moon might rise above the line of clouds, so I tried finding it with telescopes. That patch of light in the clouds was still too faint to see anything at all in the eyepiece, but a small crowd was gathering around me waiting to get a look. I had nothing to show them. As the Super Moon worked it’s way higher, it cast an eerie pink glow, and I let people take a look through the scopes, to let them find out that there was still nothing much to see. I did hear one person ask, “So when is it gonna get really big?” Super Moon was already past perigee; it wasn’t going to get any bigger.










This was about the best view we had.




Rhea, whom I met at a CA start party last fall, came out for Super Moon, and provided Hillary and I with chemical hand warmers. Thank you!




Rhea having a look at Super Moon with my go-to Newtonian.




Joe engaging visitors.





By 8 PM, with only a glow in the clouds, the crowd started to leave, but over the next hour, I’d say another 200 people came down to the lakefront, a few at a time, but generally not staying long. Our friend Jerry arrived just after we decided to break down. It's a long train and bus ride for him, so I feel bad he wasn't able to see Super Moon. We tolerated the clouds and the chilly wind until 9 PM, then broke off the session. The Super Moon was a super bust.

Packing up we saw a Fox News Chicago crew filming a story, and wondered why they didn’t come down and talk to Chicago Astronomers. I know now that they had interviewed professional Adler astronomers earlier, and for them, that was good enough. When the Super Moon came up though, it wasn’t the Adler astronomers who were out, ready to share the view and talk astronomy with the public; it was Chicago Astronomers.





I call the Super Moon a bust because it was cloudy, and we missed an opportunity to show that there was a lot of media hype over not a big deal, astronomically speaking. I think if it hadn’t been cloudy, it still might have been a bust. I think too many people were expecting the Super Moon to fill half the sky or something, and it that will never happen. I watch our Moon as much as anybody else, and I couldn’t tell a difference with the naked eye. I could tell a slight difference when trying to get an image through my telescope, since the lunar disk wouldn’t fit in my camera’s field of view. Joe was passing out business cards, and inviting visitors to April’s full Moon session. I hope that night is clear, and I hope some of the enthusiasm for the Super Moon carries over to another big crowd next month. Until then I can laugh at all the media attention given to what I consider not much of a story at all.

Paulie's narrative is good.

Better than my groggy-half awake one.

Our sessions are better with Paulie on-site.

Pinky...!

How great to see you here!

When Saturn gets higher in the sky later on this year, I'll zoom in on Rhea just for you...