On January 4th, Earth is at perihelion, meaning the closest point to the Sun in its orbit. Earth's orbit is not as elliptical compared to the Moon's, and the difference between the closest distance, like tomorrow (there’s no significant difference from today), and the farthest distance at the beginning of July (aphelion) is only about 3%.
To the naked eye, of course, no difference is visible, and in any case, one doesn’t look directly at the Sun. Even with the Moon, where the difference is much greater, the naked eye cannot detect it. However, modern cameras with enough megapixels can easily capture a 3% difference. That’s why I’ve prepared the following image for you, showing two Suns six months apart.
As for the obvious question: if Earth is closer to the Sun now, why isn’t it slightly warmer? It’s worth noting that this has a very small effect on temperature. However, the tilt of Earth’s axis, which creates the seasons, has a much greater impact. Even so, winter in the southern hemisphere is slightly colder than winter in the northern hemisphere, and summer there is slightly hotter, but not significantly so.
The last week of October (2019) was very busy for me with planed and unplanned events that I photographed.
On Saturday evening (26th) there was a thunderstorm a bit from me so most of the lightnings were far. and yet some were very close like this one.
There are several methods to capture lightnings. One way is to put a camera on tripod and set it for long exposures of 5 seconds, hoping to catch something. If the storm is heavy you can try and take a video, even with your smartphone, using the slow motion option, which works better than regular video even that it has a limited duration.
A lightning 26-Oct-2019
On Sunday I noticed lightnings in a very far cloud (70 km from me). It was very strange to see these far away lightnings within the cloud as can be seen in this short movie.
A longer version is in you tube
Tuesday (29th) was the first option to see the new moon. Stating with a nice sunset, I spot the moon, and as a bonus Venus and Mercury were close as well.
In the photo with all three it is clearly seen that while Venus is more or less on the ecliptic, The moon is norther and Mercury is to the south.
sunset 29-Oct-2019
The new moon 29-Oct-2019
Mercury is between the wires of the antenna at the bottom left of the photo
The new moon, Venus and Mercury 29-Oct-2019
In the following photo, earthshine is visible, light reflected from the Earth to the Moon and back again to Earth make us see even the dark parts of the moon and its entire disc.
The new moon 29-Oct-2019
Just two days later a close conjunction (about 1 deg) of Jupiter and the moon
The moon and Jupiter 31-Oct-2019
And only two days later, just a few hours after the conjunction with Saturn
Yesterday (3-Feb-2019) I photoed an Iridium flare just five minutes after sunset in what was still daylight. However as you can see, I caught only half of the flare.
Iridium flare 3 /2/2019
Here are two photos that describe the flare. The first shows its path along the state of Israel and the second one show its path in the sky. The starts are there but can't be seen of course.
Flare central line over Israel
Flare in sky
It is important to understand that in such case it is extremely important to be near he central line as possible. Even few kilometers east or west of it and the flare will not be visible. during the night one can be tens of kilometers away but not during the day.
I choose a spot on the central line and setup my camera using the smart phone compass, and about 20
seconds before the pass start to record a video.
The flare was very bright and very short, and the final result is seen in the photo at the beginning of the post.
The camera is much more sensitive than the human eye, and recorded some seconds of the flare but
unfortunately I didn't aim it to the correct spot.
So what went wrong? I wanted to use a larger focal length to capture a long and wide flare. using longer focal length require precision so it is better to use lower focal length. Also since the flare moves from top to bottom (or bottom to top), putting the camera vertically will give mush more space for errors. So more is less. More zoom, less space for errors, and I should use 50mm instead of 70mm.
To summarize here is an old video showing rare double daytime Iridium! At least I got that right!
And to finish the post, we will add a great sunset photo after the flare
Beresheet, the first Israeli spaceship to the moon, after 42 days in space, completed a critical maneuver and now orbiting the moon and not the Earth.
5/4/2019- First photo of the moon
After examining the preliminary data received during the night from Beresheet by the engineering team of SpaceIL and IAI, the control room updates that Beresheet is in an excellent orbit!
The nearest point to the moon (Perilune) is 470 km from the moon and the point farthest from the moon (Apolune) at a distance of 10,400 km.
The landing is scheduled for April 11 approximately 23:00 Israeli time - an accurate update will be published in the coming days. During the coming week, the maneuvers intense preparations for the landing will be conducted.
Yesterday during the critical Lunar Capture maneuver, "Beresheet" photographed amazing photos of the moon while activating the engines.
1-A picture taken by Beresheet - the far side of the moon during the maneuver at 470 km height
2-A picture of the far side of the moon with Earth in the background
A picture taken by Beresheet - the far side of the moon during the maneuver at 470 km height
A picture of the far side of the moon with Earth in the background
4/4/2019 - Lunar capture
See the entire maneuver in this video
YEHUD, Israel, April 4 – SpaceIL’s engineering team and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) this evening at 5:17 p.m. Israel team conducted the most critical maneuver to date of Beresheet’s journey to the moon – the Lunar Capture. This maneuver enabled the spacecraft to be captured by the moon’s gravity and begin orbiting the moon – and with the moon, orbiting the Earth.
Today’s maneuver moved the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit around the moon, with the closest point (perilune) 500 km to the moon, with the farthest point (apolune) 10,000 km from the moon. Unlike the longer orbits around the Earth, Beresheet’s first lunar orbit will last 14 hours. Before it lands on the moon, each orbit thereafter will take only two hours. At the beginning of this week, Beresheet reached, for the last time, the closest point to Earth in its last Earth orbit, only 1,700 km, and continued on course to the point where it could join the lunar orbit, 400,000 km from Earth.
At 5:18 p.m. Israel time the spacecraft’s engine activated for six minutes, and reduced its speed by 1,000 km/hour, from 8,500 km/hour to 7,500 km/hour, relative to the moon’s velocity. The maneuver was conducted with full communication between Beresheet’s control room in Israel and the spacecraft, and signals in real time match the correct course. In the coming week, with expected intense engineering activities, many more maneuvers will take Beresheet from an elliptical to a round orbit, at a height of 200 km from the moon. The maneuvers will aim to reduce the spacecraft’s distance from the moon and reach the optimal point to conduct an autonomic landing in the Sea of Serenity in the evening Israel time, April 11.
SpaceIL Chairman, Morris Kahn: “The lunar capture is an historic event in and of itself – but it also joins Israel in a seven-nation club that has entered the moon’s orbit. A week from today we’ll make more history by landing on the moon, joining three super powers who have done so. Today I am proud to be an Israeli.”
SpaceIL CEO, Ido Anteby: “After six weeks in space, we have succeeded in overcoming another critical stage by entering the moon’s gravity. This is another significant achievement our engineering team achieved while demonstrating determination and creativity in finding solutions to unexpected challenges. We still have a long way until the lunar landing, but I‘m convinced our team will complete the mission to land the first Israeli spacecraft on the moon, making us all proud.”
IAI CEO, Nimrod Sheffer: “After a challenging journey, we made tonight another Israeli record and became the seventh nation to orbit the moon. Even before Beresheet was launched, it already was a national success story that shows our groundbreaking technological capabilities. Tonight, we again reach new heights. In the coming week, our talented engineering team will work 24/7 to bring us to an historic event on April 11. Good luck Beresheet.”
For several years, SpcaceIL builds the first private Israeli spaceship to go the moon. Initiated as part of Google Lunar X-prize, three "dreamers": Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari,Yonatan Winetraub established SpaceIL, raise funds and experts and made the dream into reality.
Beresheet - Genesis spacecraft
SpaceIL is a non-profit organization established in 2011 aiming to land the first Israeli spacecraft on the moon. SpaceIL was founded by three young engineers competing for the international Google Lunar XPRIZE challenge to build, launch and land an unmanned lunar spacecraft. SpaceIL’s other stated goal is to inspire the next generation in Israel and around the world to choose to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
If you visited Israel in the last years you probably saw a small model of Beresheet in the airport, asking for people to do selfie with the model. Some of the photos will go to the moon, maybe even mine.
Selfie with Beresheet (and my sister)
The Spacecraft - The process of planning and developing the spacecraft, which includes the intensive work of engineers, scientists and staff, began in 2013 and continued until last year. The spacecraft, which weighs only 600 kilograms, is considered the smallest to land on the moon. It is only 1.5 meters wide and will be carrying about 75 percent of its weight. Its maximum speed will exceed 10 kilometers per second (36,000 km / h).
The spacecraft passed two critical tests: Vacuum chamber test and Hyper-sonic chamber tests and is ready to be packed and start its journey to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the launch.
Bereshhet entering the Vacuum Chamber. Credit IAI
Bereseheet in a Hyper-sonic chamber
The spacecraft's journey to the Moon - Once launched, the spacecraft will begin with a long and complex flight. The spacecraft will disengage from the SpaceX launch rocket when it reaches 60,000 kilometers from Earth’s surface and begin orbiting the Earth in elliptic orbits. It will circle Earth, widening its circumference each time, while saving fuel and only starting the engines at the end of each cycle. Then, at the right time, it will leave Earth’s gravity and enter the gravity of the moon. After circling the moon a few times, it will begin the landing process, carried out autonomously by the spacecraft's navigation control system. The entire flight, from launch through landing, will take about two months.
The mission - Once the spacecraft, carrying the Israeli flag, lands on the moon in April 2019, it will begin taking photos of the landing site. It will also perform measurements of the magnetic field in a scientific experiment carried out in cooperation with the Weizmann Institute and NASA. The data collected from this experiment will be transferred to IAI's control room during the two days following the landing.
Much better selfie with Bereshhet
Now, Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) presented today at IAI’s Space Division a time capsule that will travel to the moon — and remain there indefinitely — with the first Israeli spacecraft, which will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in February, 2019.
The time capsule consists of three discs, each containing hundreds of digital files. Included among the files, which will travel to the moon inside SpaceIL’s lunar spacecraft, are: Details about the spacecraft and the crew building it; national symbols, like Israel’s Declaration of Independence, the Bible, Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah”, and the Israeli flag; cultural objects; materials – paintings, for example – collected over many years from the public for sending to the moon; dictionaries in 27 languages and encyclopedias, such as Wikipedia, an indication of knowledge accumulated by all humanity thus far; Israeli songs; the Wayfarer’s Prayer; books of art and science and Israeli literature; information about Israeli scientific and technological discoveries and developments that influenced the world; photos Israel’s landscapes and of leading figures in Israeli culture; a children’s book that was inspired by SpaceIL’s mission to the moon.
The three founders and the time capsule
The time capsule, along with the spacecraft, will remain on the Moon indefinitely, even after completing Israel’s first lunar mission. With no plans to return to Earth, the spacecraft and information within the time capsule’s disks will possibly be found and distributed by future generations.
In early 2019, the spacecraft, recently named Beresheet (the Hebrew word for Genesis), will launch alongside other satellites as a secondary payload on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The precise launch date remains undetermined, as SpaceIL awaits final confirmation from the launch company.
Closer look on the time capsule
"This is another step on our way to the moon," said Ido Anteby, CEO of SpaceIL. “Inserting the disks into the spacecraft, which is a real "time capsule," indicates the spacecraft's readiness to blast off from the launch site in a few weeks. SpaceIL's crews and IAI have completed testing of the spacecraft and its systems, and are preparing for the beginning of the amazing and complex journey that exemplifies innovation, creativity and courage. The spacecraft's historic journey, which also includes a scientific mission, makes a significant contribution to advancing the space industry and the subject of space in Israel."
Yonatan Winetraub, one of three SpaceIL founders, said, as he inserted the time capsule into a spacecraft: "This is a very emotional moment. We do not know how long the spacecraft and the time capsule will remain on the moon. It is very possible that future generations will find this information and want to learn more about this historic moment."
Here is a short video showing the insertion of the time capsule:
Opher Doron, IAI’s Space Division General Manager, said: "We are proud to be the first non-governmental entity in the world to go to the moon. Landing on the moon was for many years a little-discussed topic among the public, but recently we see growing interest as world superpowers seek to return to the moon in a variety of commercial missions. There is no doubt that the technological knowledge acquired by IAI during the development and construction of Beresheet, together with Space IL and combined with the space capabilities developed over more than 30 years at IAI, puts us at the global forefront in the ability to complete lunar missions."
The spacecraft, whose construction was carried out at IAI’s Space Division, successfully completed a series of recent tests to examine the integration of systems, and a series of complex experiments aimed at testing its durability. Concurrently, validation and verification tests checked the function of the spacecraft in scenarios it could experience during the mission. Since actual space conditions cannot be replicated, tests are carried out in part by a SpaceIL simulator that mimics space conditions and part on the spacecraft itself. Next, SpaceIL will soon ship the spacecraft to the launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
In October, SpaceIL and the Israeli Space Agency announced a collaboration with NASA that will enable SpaceIL to improve its ability to track and communicate with the spacecraft before, during, and after landing on the moon. Two weeks ago a retro-reflector from NASA was installed on the spacecraft, an instrument that reflects laser beams and will enable NASA to precisely locate the spacecraft on the lunar surface after the landing. SpaceIL, the Israel Space Agency and NASA also agreed that NASA will have access to data gathered by the magnetometer installed aboard the Israeli spacecraft. The instrument, which was developed in collaboration with Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, will measure the magnetic field on and above the landing site.
Please find below photos from today’s event at IAI’s Space Division and examples of photos the will be included in the time capsule.
The launch will take place on a SpaceX rocket in first quarter of 2019, and the Moon landing will be at the end of a two-month journey in space. Since the establishment of SpaceIL, the task of landing an Israeli spacecraft on the moon has become a national project, with educational impact, funded by donors such as Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, Sami Sagol, Lynn Schusterman, Steven and Nancy Grand, Sylvan Adams and others. Morris Kahn, a philanthropist and businessman, took the lead in completing the mission, financing about NIS 100 million of the project and serving as SpaceIL’s president.
About Israel Aerospace Industries:
IAI Ltd. is Israel’s largest aerospace and defense company and a globally recognized technology and innovation leader, specializing in developing and manufacturing advanced, state-of-the-art systems for air, space, sea, land, cyber and homeland security. Since 1953, the company has provided advanced technology solutions to government and commercial customers worldwide including: satellites, missiles, weapon systems and munitions, unmanned and robotic systems, radars, C4ISR and more. IAI also designs and manufactures business jets and aerostructures, performs overhaul and maintenance on commercial aircraft and converts passenger aircraft to refueling and cargo configurations. http://www.iai.co.il/
We're very pleased to have Grade Six-er, Artash Nath, deliver a bilingual address at the 2018 #TorontoMarchforScience! He'll be marching with us this Saturday, April 14th; and you should too! Check out his full bio at http://sciencemarchto.ca
Here are two photos of the same object I took to demonstrate the importance of being tracked.
First I would like to say that I finally discovered the true source of the moon's light. See the following picture...
True source of the moon's light?
The photo is from the last full moon (which was a supermoon and also a total lunar eclipse, not visible from my area). Although I am not into any supermoon hype, I always like to observe a full moon rising, and try to take nice pictures of it.
OK, hope you had some laugh and now for this week articles.
Welcome all to Carnival Of Space, weekly digest of astronomy articles from all around the globe. This is a conjunction week starting with Mars and Jupiter and Ending (Saturday 13-Jan-2018) With Saturn and Mercury. See all four of them early before sunrise.
Although I don't care too much about supermoons, I always like to see the full moon rising and this evening just 17 minutes after sunset I had a chance to see and take some photos.
The next photos clearly show why I can't see the exact moon rise. There ar mountains to the east which blocks the horizon. It requires about 60 minutes driving to pass them (not including evening traffic jams!)
moon rise
moon rise
A nice surprise was an airplane which was considering enough to cross the moon.
moon rise and an airplane
And in the video notice how the hot gases from the engines twist the photo
Here is the full movie of the moonrise at 4x speed
High clouds continued the following evening so I took some other fine photos:
Sunset 4-Dec-2017
And the following photo reminded me the famous scene from "Apocalypse now".
A helicopter in sunset
One hour after sunset the moon rose
moonrise 4-Dec-2017
moonrise 4 Dec-2017
And later that night a compelte 22deg moon halo, The entire winter-hexagon is visible including the Orion group.
Hi all and welcome to another issue of Carnival of Space. Before going into the articles here are two nice picture I took in the last weeks. You might need to enlarge them to see properly:
NASA is providing an update on the first integrated launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft after completing a comprehensive review of the launch schedule. The new launch date for an unmanned first flight of the Space Launch System is Dec, 2019. This is NASA’s stretch goal target rather than June 2020 which is what the review expects will happen
An explosion occurred on Saturday, Nov 4, 2017 during a test of a “Block 5” Merlin engine, which will be used in a future generation of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets. It was a engine qualification test and no one was injured. The block 5 Falcon 9 will have higher thrust on all of the engines and improvements on landing legs compared to the block 4 Falcon 9 Full Thrust. There are also a number of small changes to streamline recovery and re-usability of first-stage boosters. Alterations to the launch vehicle are primarily focused on increasing the speed of production and efficiency of re-usability. SpaceX aims to fly each Block 5 first stage ten times with only inspections in between, and up to 100 times with refurbishment.
Hi all and welcome to CoS #512 with many great articles from the astronomy fandom!
And in this issue, we will go from the first black holes to new features on the moon. From Triton to Jupiter, to new rockets technique and to some space history and talks about the future. Spare yourself a hour and enjoy!
A stormy, turbulent world: New science results from Juno reveal ‘whole new Jupiter’
From "Next Big Future"
"Rocket Lab" broke new ground today when its Electron rocket reached space at 16:23 NZST. "Rocket Lab" has said they will charge $5 million for each rocket. The SpaceX Falcon 9 has a launch cost of $57 million. "Rocket Lab" will launch up to 225 kilograms. The Falcon 9 can launch 22800 kilograms to low Earth orbit. "Rocket Lab" 3D prints almost all of parts. They use carbon composite materials for many parts which are lighter. "Rocket Lab" uses advanced batteries to enable electric turbopumps.
A camera can be a small telescope. It collects lights, it has a larger aperture than your eye. A lens is a
lens.
As I wrote in a previous article: How to photograph stars and constellations, you can use any camera to photograph the sky. You should be realistic and understand that you are photographing mostly wide-filed photos. Entire constellations or large objects with a telephoto lens. The photos will help you see more stars, observe their different colors, and even to find deep sky objects such as clusters, nebulas and even galaxies.
A DSLR is recommended and the better your lens the better the results but even with a compact camera it is possible to get nice results.
Photos can be taken from anywhere but to avoid light pollution it is best to go to darkest as possible places. No need to mention that a sturdy tripod is a must.
The major problem of photographing stars is that the earth rotate and the stars are smudged from dot to lines. You can use this rotation to produce great star trails photos but our aim in this specific article is to better see the stars and faint objects.
The rule of thumb is that the longest exposure should not be more than 500/focal-length. For example, if you use a 28mm lens you can expose for 18 seconds without noticing much smudging. These number is correct for Full-Frame cameras. If you are using an APS camera, you should adjust by the crop factor (mostly 1.5) so 18 seconds becomes just 12. If you are using a telephoto lens you will have shorter exposures time.
So what to do? Use higher ISO, 400 800 or even 1600 depends on your specific model and open the aperture as possible.
Focusing is another important matter. Manual focusing is a must. Try to find a bright star and use LiveView to better focus. If you are not sure, check your photo after a single exposure, zoom into it and adjust the focus as needed.
A release cable/remote is also necessary to prevent the shake caused by pressing the shutter. If you do not have a remote/release cable use the self-photo feature to add 2 seconds delay before each photograph.
To save time I take the first photo with a very high ISO (3200 or 1600), short exposure and without noise reduction. After I set the composition as I like I use a lower ISO and the longest possible exposure. Usually, I use the built-in "log exposure noise reduction" but it can be done later in a software if you take one or two photos of the same exposure time with the lens cap on.
To take your photos to the next level you will need a tracker device. The tracker is pointed to the polar star (or to the relevant area in the southern hemisphere) and rotates in the opposite direction to the earth, thus eliminating the smudging and enables longer exposures. I am using the Ioptron tracker, if you are handy you can build your own device (look for instructions to build a "barn door tracker").
If you go for a tracker notice that there are models with additional small finderscope which will give you much better results and you should buy that model. also notice that some models have a 3/8" mount while most tripods have a 1/4" mount, so a small adapter might be required (It is very cheap adapter).
Using the tracker is simple you put it on a tripod, points it to the north star, use the finderscope for exact alignment (I use a small app for my smartphone to do this - Polar scope finder, there are also free apps for this purpose). Put the ball-head on the tracker (carefully, not to move the tracker) and point the camera to the area you want to photograph. From time to time check that the tracker still points to the correct place.
Here are some examples, all photos are 30second exposure. the Pleiades cluster - M45 - is a nice object for 300mm lens.
M45-Pleiades
Here is the same photo without tracking, the difference is clear.
M45-Pleiades
The double cluster in Perseus.
הוסף כיתוב
The beehive cluster (M44) at Cancer.
The beehive cluster (M44) at Cancer.
The great dog with Sirius, the brightest star.
The great dog - Canis Major
Here is the same photo of Canis Major without tracking. Since the focal length is wider there isn't much smudging but there is still a considerable amount.
The great dog - Canis Major
Orion constellation. With blue Rigel (bottom right) and orange Betelgeuse (Top left), Orion belt in the middle and even a hint of Orion Nebula (m42)
From time to time, you hear news about a big and bright moon that has not been seen in the last ten, twenty, or even a hundred years. Such moons have the nickname, "supermoon". Here are some facts and information about supermoons. All numbers and times relate to the supermoon of November 14,2016.
What is a supermoon?
A supermoon is a term for a full moon that is near perigee. The perigee is the point in the moon's orbit that is closest to earth. The moon is full once a month and also at perigee once a month. From time to time, the moon is both full and near perigee around the same time and the result is a somewhat larger and brighter moon, a.k.a. "supermoon".
What will be the distance to the current supermoon?
The closest distance to the moon varies each month and averages around 357,000 kilometers. The earth's distance from the current supermoon will be 356,511 kilometers (227,118 miles). This distance is the distance between the earth's and moon's centers. The exact times (UTC) are:
Moon at Perigee 13:24
Full Moon 15:54
The moonrise varies for different locations.
Is the change of the moon's size significant?
The difference between a distant moon ( >400,000 km) and a close moon is indeed significant and can reach 40,000 km which are 14% of the distance. This difference has an impact on the apparent size of the moon and 14% is is the number you will probably see in the news; however, I think they should calculate the difference based on the average distance of the moon, which is just half of that.
The best (and only) way to see that difference is to take two photos and compare them. See the image below for example:
The smallest distance since 1948
Headlines such as "Nearest moon since 1948" are factually correct but are meaningless. As mentioned above the distance is between the earth's and moon's centers. The distance of the moon to a specific observer on earth is different and changes throughout the night as the earth revolves.
Since 1948, there have been many others supermoons, some of them only 100 km farther than this supermoon. But if an observer on earth sees the moon before or after the exact perigee, this 100 km is negligible to the change due to earth's rotation (which is 6300 km about the same as earth's radii, in just a few hours). Such small changes of 0.1% have no effect on the moon's apparent size. It might be that for a given observer in a given location, there was a nearer moon after 1948.
Why is the moon orange or particularly large when it rises?
The red rising moon is due to the atmosphere and the big rising moon is an illusion. Read more about the large red moon here. Both phenomena are not related to the moon being a supermoon.
Will I see any difference in the size of the moon?
Probably not. If you go out and look at the full moon you, will see that it is very bright. Maybe you'll notice it is brighter than the previous evening's moon, but that is true for every full moon. To see a change in the moon's size, you will have to compare the moon to something. To what? It is more or less the same as the day before and certainly one can't recall how a very far away moon looked several months ago. If you want to compare the difference in the size of the apparent moon, you need patience. Take some pictures, wait patiently for seven months (When then the full moon will be distant) and then take more photos.
What about the brightness of the moon?
The brightness of the moon is a whole new ball game. The moon's apparent size depends only on its distance, but the brightness depends on other factors as well. So if the news reports about the distance are at least credible to some extent, the reports on the brightness are almost always completely wrong.
Explanation:
The two most obvious factors that affect the brightness of the moon are the moon's distance from the earth and also the earth's distance from the sun. As the two of them are the smallest possible, the brightness increases. The earth is close to the sun at the beginning of January, which is part of the reasons why this November's supermoon arrived the news.
Are there more important factors to the brightness of the moon?
Yes, there are more, and the most important of is the phase angle, which relates to the distance of the moon (in degrees) from the ecliptic. The farther the moon, the less bright it will be. For the current supermoon, the moon is more than 5 degrees from the ecliptic so it will not be so bright after all.
When will the moon be the brightest?
Suppose we have a full moon at perigee (closest to earth), we assume that the earth is at perihelion (closest to the sun), and we assume that it is also just on the ecliptic. In this situation, the moon would be at its brightest. But under these conditions, we would be in the middle of a very deep lunar eclipse, which is a great event to observe, but the moon is not seen at all. For this reason, the moon has a theoretical maximum brightness limit, but that limit can never be observed.
When will be the brightest moon that can be observed?
Think again about the conditions in the previous section. The only compromise that can be done is that the moon will not be full, but just a little before or after (a difference of few hours) which means that the moon is as close as possible to earth, the earth is as close as possible to the sun, and the moon is almost full. This is just before or after a full lunar eclipse.
When is the next lunar eclipse with these conditions?
The last supermoon eclipse was January 9,2001, and the next time will be an eclipse on December 12, 2114. The brightest supermoon between 1800-2200 will be on January 3, 2151, when the earth is almost at perihelion. These dates are from the book, "More Astronomical Morsels" by Jean Meeus.
So what is all the fuss about?
As usual, much ado about nothing. But if such news will make people go out and observe the moon, so be it. The full moon and especially the rising of the moon are always an experience. Take a look for yourself in the video attached!
What other things you recommend we observe?
The moon is always interesting to observe. Even a small pair of binoculars will show many details on its surface, which change daily depending on the phase of the moon. Eclipses are always interesting, and conjunctions of the moon and planets or bright stars are interesting. Actually, one day after this supermoon, on November 15, 20161, the moon will cover the star Aldebaran in Taurus. This occultation will be visible to observers in Southeast Asia.
More questions?
Write them in the comments and I'll be happy to answer!
