The Biggest Supermoon in Years is Coming Saturday Night

It was incredible!

I was expecting a big red S...

A Guy

profdlp said:

It was incredible!

Steve, there is a chance that you've been staring at the wrong moon...
I remember watching that show. However, the sailor moon has nothing to do with my own namesake

seekermeister said:

...while it was quite nice, it didn't look especially different to me. Maybe I've just seen so many super moons, that I'm accustomed to them.

I didn't think the moon was especially big either, but it was a nice bright moon and plenty enjoyable. Its very interesting to see the moon just on the horizon when its orange in color. Makes it spectacular (this would have been a past moon).

Thanks again to Julian, now whenever I say "moon", I have his gnarly picture in my head

I saw it tonite.. so gorgeous..

It was nothing to get excited about, but it did have a noticeable difference.

There was more of an urge to howl...

A Guy

A Guy said:

There was more of an urge to howl...

A Guy

ha ha, yeah - I felt the urge :)

A Guy said:

This Saturday evening, take a look at the night sky and you might see something special. The moon will make its largest, most stunning appearance of the year—an event known to scientists as “the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system” and to the popular skywatching public simply as the “supermoon.” As one of the most spectacular supermoons in years, the moon will appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than when it is on the far side of its orbit.

Source

A Guy

I have never heard anyone discuss this, but it seems to me that I heard that the moon on the horizon is the same size as high in the sky, it is just an optical illusion that makes it appear bigger. Isn't that correct?

It appeared bigger because of it's proximity. But that would be for near the horizon, or high in the sky. However, it was closest at at certain time (8:34PM PST here), and yes, the position near the horizon also was what made it appear larger.

It was 14% larger not because of it's being near the horizon, but because it was nearest Earth at that time. A Guy