Supermooned!

Large

Photographed on May 5, 2012, at 8:25 p.m. Eastern, 1/40-second exposure at f/4.5.

Moonrise for my location occurred at 7:57. Rather than photographing from my driveway as I usually do, I had walked several blocks from home to catch the Full Moon as early as possible.

Says NASA, "The perigee full moon on May 5, 2012 will be as much as 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than other full moons of 2012."

A perigee Full Moon occurs when the Full Moon is also at perigee, the closest approach to the Earth in its orbit. Perigee Full Moons occur about once a year.

I had headed out early for my orbit-side view. While waiting, I turned West and caught this sunset with contrail at 8:08 p.m.:



A couple of neighbors had also come out to take a look. We got our first glimpse at 8:14.


Large

Here she comes! I photographed the shot above using a half-second exposure at f/4.5.

Below: 0.6-second exposure at f/8 at 8:16.


Large

Below: Half-second exposure at f/8 at 8:17.


Large

Below: 0.6-second exposure at f/4 at 8:20.


Large

Zoomed in: 4-second exposure at f/8 at 8:22.


Large

Rising behind a wire. From L-R: 1/20-second exposure at f/8, 1/60-second exposure at f/4.5, and 1/80-second exposure at f/4.5. Photographed at 8:30-8:31.


Large

Night lights: 4-second exposure at f/4.5 at 8:32.


Large

As the "Supermoon" rose in the East, Venus descended in the West. Close to it (at about the 1:30 position if Venus were the center of a clock face), you can see the star Alnath, the second-brightest star in the constellation Taurus the Bull. Alnath marks the end of one of Taurus's horns.

Alnath means "the butting (horn)" according to Chris Dolan at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. You can track Venus and other planets at Naked Eye Planets.

I took this shot using a 4-second exposure at f/2.8 at 8:39 p.m.


Large

Alnath -- also spelled Elnath -- is at the top of this graphic, slightly left of center:



Elissa Malcohn's Deviations and Other JourneysPromote Your Page Too Vol. 1, Deviations: Covenant (2nd Ed.), Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite, Vol. 3, Deviations: Destiny, Vol. 4, Deviations: Bloodlines, Vol. 5, Deviations: TelZodo, Vol. 6 and conclusion: Deviations: Second Covenant.Free downloads at the Deviations website (click here for alternate link), Smashwords, and Manybooks. Proud participant, Operation E-Book Drop (provides free e-books to personnel serving overseas. Logo from the imagination and graphic artistry of K.A. M'Lady & P.M. Dittman); Books For Soldiers (ships books and more to deployed military members of the U.S. armed forces); and Shadow Forest Authors (a fellowship of authors and supporters for charity, with a focus on literacy). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.