May 6, 2012 at 11:49 am

10 Incredible Views of the 2012 Super Moon

by twistedsifter

 

On Saturday May 5, 2012, the lunar perigee coincided with a full moon. This fascinating event occurs about once a year. At its closest point the moon will be 222,000 miles (357,000 km) from Earth, causing high and low tides to be slightly more extreme than usual. [Source: The Telegraph]

The exact numbers differ depending on who you source, but according to NASA the moon appears up to 14% larger and 30% brighter. The scientific term for the phenomenon is “perigee moon”. Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon’s orbit. The Moon follows an elliptical path around Earth with one side (“perigee”) about 50,000 km closer than the other (“apogee”).

The best time to look is when the Moon is near the horizon. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. The last Super perigee Moon occurred on March 19th, 2011, producing a full Moon that was almost 400 km closer. [Source: NASA]

A search today on Flickr for photos tagged with ‘Supermoon’ taken in the last 24 hours brought up over 5,000 results, many that are quite spectacular. Below you will find a collection of 10 that stood out. These photos were posted using Flickr’s ‘share’ button. If your photograph appears below and you would like it removed, please send a note to admin@twistedsifter.com or post a comment and it will be removed immediately.

 

 

1.

 

Supermoon on San Francisco

 

 

2.

 

"Supermoon"

 

 

3.

 

Supermoon

 

 

4.

 

Supermoon rising

Photograph by jasbond007 on Flickr

 

 

5.

 

IMGP1180

 

 

6.

 

May 2012 Supermoon over Vancouver ...DSC_0962

 

 

7.

 

supermoon

 

 

8.

 

Supermoon Seattle

 

 

9.

 

Supermoon rising over Sydney, Australia - 5th May 2012

 

 

10.

 

Holding the Moon

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you enjoyed this post, the Sifter highly recommends:

 

 

crab nebula nasa 10 Incredible Views of the 2012 Super Moon