Sunday 20 March 2011

Perigee Moon



Last night the full moon was at the perigee of it's elliptical orbit, meaning the nearest it ever gets to the earth. So we set off just before sunset to see it rising in the east. Wow, the photos don't do it justice, first a fine sliver appeared above the horizon and gradually a huge, rich, glowing, apricot, slightly flattened egg shape rose into the dusk. Beautiful. After watching for half an hour or so, we got pretty cold and came home to find it shining through the trees and making fantastic patterns on the ground, which my camera isn't good enough to capture. Technical stuff, the moon appears 14% bigger than normal, this occurs every 18 years or so, the last time being in 1993.

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