Tonite's Super Moon

[DP]

Just winding down from the weekend and finished eating in time for moon rise. Very hazy with high clouds. No color or b/c correction, just the smallest amount of sharpening:

[The UnDoug]

Fabulous!

[Don C]

Watched it break away from clouds on our walk tonight; lots of humidity in the air so it is not as bright as it might be. Still made for a more interesting walk.

(OK, just to be technical, the moon obviously did not move out of the way of the clouds; the clouds did all the moving, but saying that has far less romance than the former.)

[miK.]

Are you guys seeing this? Pretty cool!

[Jack D.]

So I just want to be clear about this, the Nazi base is on the other side???

http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1...sg-1753521

[bfd]

Overcast. Fail.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

miK. wrote:
Are you guys seeing this? Pretty cool!

I would have gone with Miami for that background pic.

[Speedy]

That is Miami. You can tell by the hills in the background.

You all do realize it is a 'super moon' because it is getting closer. It is only a matter of time before the moon crashes into the earth. Then you won't think it looks all that cool.

[eustacetilley]

Speedy wrote:
...

You all do realize it is a 'super moon' because it is getting closer. It is only a matter of time before the moon crashes into the earth. Then you won't think it looks all that cool.

This is not technically true, which is to say, it's utterly false:
"The Moon's linear distance from Earth is currently increasing at a rate of 3.82±0.07 cm per year, but this rate is not constant."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon

That we happen to note that the Moon covers roughly the same area of the sky as the Sun, and is extremely predictable in its motions, with notable and extremely well documented idiosyncrasies, idiosyncrasies that that we know about from some earlier Human cultures, because that's about all that we know about those earlier Human cultures, because for some reason, those earlier Human cultures felt it extremely important that we know about....

Harrumph. Where was I?

Oh yeah. Moon much closer to Earth a Billion years ago, Moon much farther from Earth a Billion years from now. Explaining all this involves some basic Astrophysics. Daring to go beyond basic Astrophysics drags in most Religions, some really bad Science Fiction, and certain kinds of mental illnesses that are colloquially grouped together and known as Lunacy.



Eustace
(Edited, because I just came across that really cool GIF.)

[OWC Jamie]

Facts aren't going to unseat those entrenched myths.