Hangin’ a Super Moon

It was a super moon tonight.  Not just because the skies were clear and you could see it quite well.  It was “super” because it was at it’s closest to the earth it will get this year.

According to NASA, it was 14% bigger and 30% brighter than most full moons of the year, mainly because it will be about 31,000 miles (50,000 km) closer to the earth (at it’s perigee) than when it is at it’s farthest (apogee).

So, of course, I was out in the park at 9:00 PM (MST) taking picture of the event.  And, also of course, you are going to see some of them right here, right now. (Click on any picture to see it larger)

But first; an adorable cat-asleep-in-the-shoe-box shot.  Alan seems to like to find the weirdest places to sleep.  Took this on my way out to shoot the moon.

And a birds-flying-past-the-sunset shot.

I’ll also throw in an Old Blue night shot before heading into the main event. (Yes, I had to find some stuff to shoot while waiting for the moon to peek out from behind the Wasatch Mountains.)

Finally: Just barely poking above the mountain.

And a little bit further.

Close-up.  This is one like the previous picture, just cropped to be closer.

Same as last one, just not cropped.

Just barely “touching” the mountain top.

And there it is, in all it’s glory.

Same shot, just with a much longer shutter speed.

Same shutter speed, just rotated the camera so the moon was out of the shot.

Still with the telephoto lens, just zoomed out and took two identical shots at different shutter speeds.  I super-imposed one over the other so you can see the moon’s detail.

Same, different angle.

Got rid of the telephoto lens, and shot a couple with the regular lens.

Looking through my pictures I noticed a weird difference.  Two pictures, taken within seconds of each other, show the moon a different color.  It’s amazing the difference 1/240^th of a second of light can make.

 

 

 

After-thought: I just couldn’t resist.

LTD phone home.