Cosmic Lure: August 2014

When most people think of the word "super" they think of something being bigger or better than the object without "super" in front of it. For example, a supermarket is a bigger and better (in most cases) market. Superhero is a person with greater powers than a normal, every day hero. And who can forget the awesome power of a supernova? A nova alone has more destructive power than we can even imagine here on Earth. A supernova is even greater!

So what is a super moon and what makes it different than a normal moon? Many people are misled to believe that the Moon actually increases in size compared to a "normal" sized Moon. While this is partially true from our perspective here on Earth, it is not completely correct. The Moons orbit around the Earth is not a perfect a circle. It is elliptical, or oval/egg shaped. With the orbit being like this, the Moon is actually closer to the Earth at certain times during the year. This is the reason why sometimes during a solar eclipse, the whole Sun may be covered by the Moon, or when the Moon is further away, it does not completely cover the entire disk of the Sun so we see a "ring of fire" eclipse.

Try holding a quarter at arms length. Can you notice everything you can see in the background? Now if you move the quarter closer and closer to your eye, you will see less and less of what is in the background and more of just the quarter.

As the Moon gets closer to the Earth in its orbit, it appears larger, just like the quarter experiment. Since the Moon is closer, it also appears brighter than a normal full moon. Pretty cool, eh? This is a super moon!

I have included some pictures of the Super Moon from this month. My photography skills need some work, so don't try zooming in too much on these pictures! Also, I should note that it was cloudy the two nights I tried taking them, as will be evident from the pictures. I hope you will enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.