November 14th Supermoon Will Be Biggest In 68 Years

On Monday, November 14th, you may be able to see the biggest and closest supermoon Earth has seen since 1948. A "supermoon" is a full moon that "coincides with the lunar orb's closest approach to Earth, or perigee." National Geographic explains how you can experience one of the best lunar spectacles in decades: This month, the moon officially reaches perigee at 6:21 a.m. ET (11:23 UT) on November 14, when it will be just 221,524 miles from our planet, as measured from the center of both Earth and the moon. The moon reaches its full phase only two and a half hours later, at 8:52 a.m. ET (13:52 UT) on November 14. Earth hasn't been buzzed this close by a full moon since January 26, 1948, when our lunar companion was a mere 30 miles closer than this month's supermoon. Enjoy the sky show while it lasts, because the full moon won't get this close to us again until November 25, 2034. And the absolute closest full moon to Earth this century will occur on December 6, 2052, when our celestial neighbor will be just 221,472 miles away. Globally, the best time to catch this sky event is just after your local sunset on November 14, as the silvery orb rises in the east. For North Americans, the lunar disk will appear to be nearly equally full and impressive on the nights of November 13 and 14, so if you get clouded out on the first night, you'll have another chance to catch the epic sky show. The best view will be in the early morning close to dawn, as the moon sets in the west before the sun rises in the east. By the numbers, the November full moon will appear to be 7 percent larger than average and nearly 15 percent brighter.

This is such a refreshing change from politics

[Anonymous Coward]

thank you

Re:

[CapOblivious2010]

I agree - it seems like every other month or so there's "gee whiz" story about a "supermoon" or "supermars" or some "celestial alignment" or something. But at best it's probably no more than a fraction of a percent bigger than normal, and it doesn't actually mean anything. If they didn't make a big deal out of it, no one would notice or care.

Re:

[KingBenny]

i dunno, last night at 4am it was awfully big and yellow from where i was standing and im sure i did not drop acid in the past 23 years ... or shrooms in the past 14

Re:

[hcs_$reboot]

The difference is visible to the naked eye, even with just a "regular" supermoon.

Re:So?

[CapOblivious2010]

The "supermoon" may look slightly larger than the moon normally looks when it's close to the earth (i.e. every two weeks), but not significantly. In particular, it pales in comparison to the psychological effect of viewing the moon low in the sky (when it looks larger, even though it's actually further away) vs high in the sky (when it looks smaller, even though it's actually closer).

But there's still no reason it should be in the news: regular people wouldn't even notice if it wasn't pointed out to them, and astronomers know it's just a cyclical thing that doesn't mean anything. Imagine if, every spring, the news was full of breathless reports of the upcoming "supersun" which would be much brighter than the "winter sun" and which would stay in the sky for hours longer than the winter sun. That's pretty much the level of amazement we're talking about.

...and in other news, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead and water is still wet.

Re:

[Dutch Gun]

Maybe people like me like to know? I certainly don't see anyone "breathlessly" claiming it's going to be the celestial event of the century, just an interesting astronomical tidbit. Every time I see a full moon, it captures my attention for a minute, so why not check it out at its best? I plan to wander outside and take a quick peek, and hope that cloud cover doesn't foil my plans.

For my part, I'm glad /. let me know about this.

Re:

[angel'o'sphere]

Can you please take out a piece of paper and make a drawing of your rational that the hight in the sky of the moon has any relation to its distance/size?
My nephew might need it in his physics classes.
Thank you.

Re:

[ColaMan]

When the moon is viewed at the horizon from your position it is approximately one Earth radii (6000km) further away from you compared to when it's directly overhead.

Re:

[Hognoxious]

Or a bit more, if you're really tall.

Re:

[angel'o'sphere]

And how much is that in percent or promille of the distance of the moon? Or in arc seconds of its appearance at the sky? :D

Re:

[digitig]

The difference between this supermoon and the average full moon will be visible to the naked eye. The difference between this supermoon and other supermoons (which are relatively common) won't be.

For small values of "Biggest"

[whoever57]

It's only 9 or 10% bigger than a typical full moon.

Re:For small values of "Biggest"

[garyoa1]

No. It's actually the same size. Just closer. ;)

Re:

[CapOblivious2010]

No. It's actually the same size. Just closer. ;)

Where are my humor mod points when I need them?

It works like cows then?

[Black.Shuck]

So it works the same way as cows [youtube.com]?

it will be YUUUGE

[turkeydance]

so i've heard

Re:

[hcs_$reboot]

No, the global warming effect is when the Earth looks just like the Moon.

I'm terrified

[rubycodez]

The engorged moon will cover 7/8 the sky and the increased gravitational pull will yank out Trump's hair implants

Re:

[hcs_$reboot]

terrified

Information that may or may not be relevant: within 1 week of one of the biggest recent earthquakes the Moon was a "super" (March 11, 2011 [wikipedia.org])

Re:

[rubycodez]

March 11 was the day Alexander Fleming died, his ghost punished us for overusing antibiotics and making superbugs.

Good animated gif demonstrating what's going on

[Solandri]

The gif [wikipedia.org] was made to show libration [wikipedia.org] (the slight rocking of the moon's face side to side). But it also shows the variance in the moon's apparent size during the near and far parts of its orbit around the Earth (perigee and apogee respectively). When full moon coincides with the nearest point in its orbit (as in the animation), it's called a supermoon.

Foolishness like this

[MrKrillls]

Is why I visit Slashdot less and less. A complete non event getting headline status.

Here's a graphic showing relative sizes

[StupendousMan]

http://spiff.rit.edu/richmond/... [rit.edu]

Prediction...

[rnturn]

Here in the Midwest, 11/14 will be cloudy. Just like it is for the vast, vast majority of any astronomical events that are supposed to be visible. I haven't been able to catch sight of any of the annual meteor showers in years. We did see a couple of comets back in the late '90s and Northern lights a few years later but, by and large, the rest of anything that happens in the sky around here is obscured by clouds. Not that I won't be checking this out. Just in case.

It will be as big as the sun!

[AC-x]

The moon will be so close to the Earth that it will appear as big as the sun in the daytime sky! Amazing!

/s

Super Saiyan ...

[Jodo Kast]

uh oh. I have a feeling that unless the moon is destroyed, the president elect might transform into zaru. That orange glow of his, are really his super saiyan ki unleashed.

Re:

[Jodo Kast]

Dang it slashdot, that was supposed to be Oozaru.