See The Supermoon Tonight

watermark writes "About every 28 years a 'supermoon' occurs. This is when the moon's orbit is closest to earth at the same time as a full moon. Saturday night will be the biggest, brightest full moon you will see in the next 28 years." The buzzkills at Space.com explain though that (For North Americans at least) you'll actually only be seeing a "waning gibbous moon," but it should still be spectacular.

Comments

Re:No No No !!!!! It will be BARELY noticable

[thomasdz]

The best popular link I could find is from Phil Plait's "Bad Astronomy" blog:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/18/kryptonite-for-the-supermoon/

Re:No No No !!!!! It will be BARELY noticable

[hort_wort]

Heh, this reminds me of when Mars came close back in `03.
http://www.v-r-a.org/ppp/Mars/Mars.htm

Folks quickly started misquoting the prediction and saying that Mars would appear larger than the full moon to the naked eye. Websites started yelling at the space programs of the world to launch rockets, wanting to put men on Mars "while it was closer than the moon".

People believe anything these days.... Would anyone like to buy some anti-radiation pills? Only $800 a box.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson Says Otherwise...

[delmierda]

From Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Facebook post (http://www.facebook.com/#!/neiltyson): "SuperMoons? A hoax spread by the under-educated on the under-informed claiming the Moon causes quakes. Saturday's full Moon is also closest to Earth in its oval orbit. Perigee happens once per month. Full Moon+Perigee coincide every 2 or 3 years. Last one: Dec 2008. Size? Saturday's moon is 7% larger than average. The difference between a 15 & 14-inch pizza. You are now better informed than the Press."

Time-Lapse of Moonset over the Colorado Rockies

[xmas2003]

Here's a time-lapse of the Moonset setting over the Colorado Rockies in early/2010

I may venture out at O-dark-30 to shoot it again this year to see if it truly looks any bigger.