Just
came back after watching the supermoon (Perigee-Syzygy). With our binocular we (AK
and me) could see the visible side of moon surface in detail. Apparently it
also marked by the perfect alignment of Sun-earth-moon in orbit. Moon follows
and elliptical orbital path around earth and hence at some point during its
rotation around earth it reaches a closest point (perigee) and farthest point
(apogee) from earth. As you might have guessed super moon happens when the full
moon coincide with the closest orbital position of moon to earth that makes it
look brighter and larger. Today’s perigee make moon appear ~7 times larger and
16 time brighter than average.
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Took a pic of mega moon. Unfortunately
I do not have a good lens to get closer
view to capture it in its all beauty.
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One
obvious impact that can have on earth is on the ocean tides. We can expect
strong tides during perigee. We went to beach today to watch sunset. I should
say it was the most spectacular sunset we have watched so far. We could see all
the changes in the sun’s shape and shades in the last few minutes before it
disappear in the ocean. Unfortunately we did not carry the camera with us
today. But any way we were talking while sitting near the ocean that the waves
look stronger and getting way into the beaches. It was an unscientific
statement because we never carefully measured the wave strength or how far it
reaches into the shore. But when I read about it I realize that we were true
although we were comparing the observed strength of waves to some image we had
in mind. I always feel good whenever my observations make any sense.
Also
found a very informative site about Supermoon: http://www.space.com/26782-is-sunday-s-supermoon-full-moon-really-that-super.html
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