Saturday, March 19, 2011

Lunar perigree tonight

You may ask 'what is a lunar perigree'?  It's basically the point at which the moon is closest to the earth in it's orbit.  The opposite is a lunar apogee.  Tonight the moon will be at it's closest point for about twenty years, so the end result is it's gonna look bloody massive.  I'm quite pleased by this because a) I think the moons pretty and b) if it's a clear sky I might be able to make out the man in the moon image everyone eles is apparently able to see.  Personally, I've never been able to make this out, which I blame on my rubbish eyesight and need for glasses.

Oh, and this supermoon has absolutely nothing to do with the Japanese earthquakes, despite what the Daily Mail would have you believe.

3 comments:

Simon B said...

Looking forward to it! The moon looked pretty amazing last night because the sky was so clear and blue - here in Gloucester, anyway. Hopefully we'll see it at its best tonight. I just have to persuade my son that, even though the moon is at its closest, it really isn't going to crash into the Earth!

Saranga said...

lol! how old is you son?

Simon B said...

James is 11 but has a very overactive imagination. ( Dunno where he gets that from! )He probably thinks the end of the world would be fun...