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!

Night Sky Photography -- 05-07-2020 -- Full Flower Supermoon & Venus With Constellation Auriga

Good evening fellow stargazers!

Tonight I thought I would travel one town over to neighboring Richburg, South Carolina and get a shot of the last supermoon of 2020 rising in the east over the town. 

I was able to capture three shots: the first of the moon just over SC Highway 9, the second in the same spot with the brightness adjusted to get a better shot of the surface of the moon itself, and finally one gorgeous close-up of the surface of the full moon itself.

The May full moon is also known as the Full Flower Moon, or Milk Moon.

Tonight Venus can be seen on the outer edge of the Constellation Auriga, in the middle of a sort of upside-down obtuse triangle with the bright stars: Betelgeuse, Capella, and Aldebaran.

Betelgeuse is usually the tenth-brightest star in the night sky and, after Rigel (which cannot be seen in the photo) is the second brightest in the Constellation Orion. Capella, in the Constellation Auriga, is the sixth-brightest star in the night sky, and the third-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus and Vega. Aldebaran is the brightest star in the Constellation Taurus and the fourteenth-brightest star in the night sky. 

I was able to capture all of the major stars of the Constellation Auriga, and the top of the Constellation Orion and outline them in the photograph, however most of the stars in the Constellation Taurus were too low in the horizon and faint to clearly capture, although Aldebaran cam out clear enough.

The month of May will be the last full month that the bright planet Venus will appear in the western evening sky for the year 2020.

On June 3, Venus will swing between the Earth and sun in its orbit, reaching the point called inferior conjunction by astronomers. Afterwards it will transition over to the eastern sky before sunup.

Throughout the month, Venus will be falling lower toward the sunset while the small planet Mercury will be rising in the western evening sky. On Thursday, May 21, 2020, the two inner planets will be within one degree of one another in conjunction. I'm hoping to get a few good shots of that -- clear skies willing. 

Well I hope y'all enjoyed my evening photos. I hope to have more in the near future, but until then have a wonderful Dixie evening, and keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all!

Night Sky Photography -- 01-20/21-2019 -- Full Super Blood Wolf Moon Lunar Eclipse

The Full Super Blood Wolf Moon Lunar Eclipse at full umbra (Earth's shadow)
at 12:40 PM EST on Monday, January 21st, 2019.

On the night of Sunday, January 20th - Monday, January 21st, we had the first full moon of 2019, and the first lunar eclipse of 2019 -- A Full Super Blood Wolf Moon Lunar Eclipse. The lunar eclipse could be viewed from North and South America, Greenland, Iceland, Europe, northern and western Africa, plus the Arctic region of the globe.

The total eclipse of the moon lasted a little more than one hour. It was followed by another partial umbral eclipse, each time persisting for over an hour. The whole umbral eclipse from start to finish had an overall duration of nearly 3 1/3 hours. 

Graph showing the transition of the moon through the shadow of the Earth during the lunar eclipse.
Graphic courtesy of Space.com

 
On Sunday, January 20, 2019 at around 9:30 PM EST Luna began to enter the penumbra (the shadow of the Earth). At around 10:32 PM EST, it moved into the umbra (the darkest part of the shadow). The moon was completely in the umbra at around 11:40 PM EST, which officially started the total lunar eclipse. It was at this point that Luna begin to take on that reddish-orange Mars-like color. The greatest eclipse took place at 12:12 AM EST on Monday, January 21, 2019, when the moon is midway through the umbra. 

The following are the photos this blogger took of the Full Super Blood Wolf Moon Lunar Eclipse between 9 PM EST to 12:45 PM EST. It was truly a wondrous sight to behold.

The eclipse is the first of three straight full supermoons, meaning the moon will be nearly at its closest to Earth for this January, as the eclipse takes place. 

The January Full Moon is often called the Wolf Moon. Other names include Old Moon, Ice Moon, and Snow Moon, although this name is usually attributed to the February Full Moon. While the farmer's almanac states that Wolf Moon is a Native-American name, other sources claim that it has Anglo-Saxon origins. In Anglo-Saxon culture, the January Full Moon was also called the Moon after Yule, which is the time of the ancient festival celebrating the Winter Solstice around December 22.

This will be the last total lunar eclipse to grace Earth’s sky until Wednesday, May 26, 2021. 

Night Sky Photography - 11-14-2016 - The Closest Supermoon Since 1948!

On the evening of November 14th, the distance between the centers of Luna and Earth were at their smallest distance for the year: approximately 221,524 miles apart. This is the closest that the moon and Earth have been since January 26, 1948 -- the closest and largest supermoon (perigee full moon) in a period of 86 years! 

I was able to capture an amazing image of the super full moon rising over the treetops in the eastern sky. I was also blessed to have good weather to take this awesome shot. Good thing too, the next supermoon to come this close to Earth won't happen again for another 18 years on November 25, 2034.