Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Saturday Supermoon

Last week was an interesting astronomical week at our house. On Wednesday the 2nd, we saw the International Space Station pass over our western horizon - a reddish dot brighter than many stars that went zooming across the sky.
Saturday night, May 5, 2012, was the night of what is commonly called a supermoon. The more acurate term is perigree full moon. This is the phenomenon of the concidence of a full moon and the closest moon orbit to earth. When this happens, the moon looks really big upon rising and is very bright - about 30% brighter than normal. Here on the North Shore of Oahu we can't see the moonrise because it is blocked by the Waianae Mountain Range. But we were able to see it up in the sky over our house, and it really was bright.

It was bright enough to cast very distinct palm tree shadows on the beach.

The next perigree full moon will be in about 14 months, on June 23, 2013.
We look forward to it!
If you want more information about supermoons, look here: earthsky.org
ALOHA
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1 comment:

  1. Heather C.May 16, 2012 at 8:55 AM

    Fun to think that we were looking at the same bright moon as you two were! It looked massive over our foothills.

    ReplyDelete

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Sunday, July 26 2009

Sunday, July 26 2009
Remember this sign?
We have learned something really interesting about this "welcome sign" which we thought was a big billboard that was pasted onto an old overpass. It turns out that this is a defensive emplacement known as a rock drop. It is a big concrete box full of rubble and rocks. In the event of an invasion by North Korea the panels underneath the drop will be opened and release the rubble across the roadway, hampering movement into South Korea.

SOLAR ECLIPSE!

SOLAR ECLIPSE!
Might look like the moon - but it's the sun!
On Wednesday July 22 Asia experienced a solar eclipse and we got to see it! Miraculously the expected day of monsoon rain did not materialize and the sky was mostly clear for the duration. During the eclipse, which occured around 11:00 a.m., the sun was much too bright to view directly - we had to be satisfied with reflected images. But, as the sun began to re-appear, just enough clouds came in to allow us to look - and take a picture. It was quite something to behold and we feel lucky for the opportunity.

On A Clear Day...

On A Clear Day...
We had 2 days of church meetings in the Seoul area. Today the weather was remarkably clear and I was able to get a great view of the city skyline and the radio tower. Usually the sky is too hazy for a view like this. Pollution, rain, high humidity or dust storms are contributing factors.