Night Sky Photography -- 05-16-2022 -- Full Flower Supermoon & Supermoons Of 2022

Good evening fellow stargazers!

The evening after Sunday's Full Supermoon Lunar Eclipse I was able to capture a glorious shot of the Full Flower Supermoon -- the first of four Full Supermoons throughout the summer months this year -- just over the treetops in the eastern sky.

The moon is completely full and all the dark "seas" that make up the visible features of the Man On The Moon can be easily seen with the tree branches in foreground. Tycho Crater, the largest crater visible to the Earth on the Moon's surface is clearly visible.

Supermoons happen when the Moon reaches its perigee -- the point in the Moon’s orbit where it is closest to Earth. The Full Moon appears slightly larger than a typical full moon due to it being closer to Earth. To a casual observer a supermoon can appear much brighter and about 10 to 15 percent larger than an average full moon.

The term supermoon was coined by American astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 while reading the book Strategic Role Of Perigean Spring Tides in Nautical History and Coastal Flooding published in 1976 by NOAA Hydrologist Fergus Wood and specifies that the Moon must be within 90% of perigee.

NASA graphic showing the size difference between the Moon at
Perigee (Supermoon) and Apogee (Micromoon) when the Moon
is farther away in its orbit of Earth.

There are actually two different types of supermoons: Full Supermoons and New Supermoons.

The New Supermoons, like any other New Moon, aren't visible from Earth in the night sky depending on your particular time zone. There were two of them earlier this year in January and February, and one more this December -- making seven supermoons for 2022.

Now if one was going by the specific definition of a supermoon -- when the Moon is the closest to the Earth in its orbit at perigee -- then the true supermoon for 2022 will occur on July 13th this year.

The following are the names and dates of the Supermoons of 2022, as well as the distance of the Moon from the Earth during each one:

Full Supermoons of 2022

Full Flower Moon -- May 16th -- 225,013 miles (362,127 km)
Full Strawberry Moon -- June 14th -- 222,238 miles (357,658 km)
Full Buck Moon -- July 13th -- 222,089 miles (357,418 km)
Full Sturgeon Moon -- August 11th -- 224,569 miles (361,409 km)

New Supermoons of 2022

New Wolf Moon -- January 2nd -- 222,478 miles (358,044 km)
New Snow Moon -- February 1st -- 226,493 miles (364,505 km)
New Cold Moon -- December 23rd -- 223,701 miles (360,013 km)

I hope to be able to capture a good image of the Full Buck Supermoon later this summer, when our lovely Luna will be at her closest approach to our beautiful Earth in the evening sky. 

Until next time have a wonderful evening and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear!