How super was your full Moon on March 19, 2011? I was completely clouded out, but thankfully quite a few people have been kind enough to share their images. Here are a pictures sent in by readers, as well as via Twitter and Facebook. We’ve got images from all around the world, and even though the size of the Moon really wasn’t that much bigger than usual, (read here why not) it is great to see so many people getting out and looking up at the sky! Our lead image comes from Rasid Tugral in Ankara, Turkey.
This view of the March 19, 2011 full Moon was taken on West Kennet Avenue at the Avebury Stone Circle in Wiltshire. Credit: Pete GlastonburyPerigee moonrise from Rothenfels, Germany. Credit: Daniel Fischer.
Jason Major from Lights in the Dark created this image from a combination of two exposures from his Nikon D80 and 200mm telephoto.
The full super moon. Credit: Peter RiesettThe full moon is seen as it rises near the Lincoln Memorial, Saturday, March 19, 2011, in Washington. The full moon tonight is called a "Super Perigee Moon" since it is at it's closest to Earth in 2011. The last full moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Supermoon through the trees. Credit: Adam Schaefer‘I took a few shots of the moon during last week and collected three of them to the same picture adding color lines to help the viewer to compare the size of the moon when it is nearing to its perigree status. All the shots have been taken in Laukaa, Central Finland with Sony Alpha700 dslr -camera equipped with 300mm minolta telephoto lens and 2x tele converter, hand held, manual focus. Unfortunately, the night 19.3.2011 was here cloudy, so I couldn't take photos then.’ Credit: Jukka Seppala, Teacher, nature photographer, Vihtavuori, Central FinlandFull Moon over Florida, sent in by cmurray6.'I see the Supermoon a rising, I see trouble on the way ....' taken with an iPhone and a 3.5-inch scope: Credit: Bill DillonThe Moon over the San Francisco, CA Bay Area. Credit: Diane GarberThe Moon and an old coal fired power station in Fremantle, Western Australia. Credit: Donna Oliver Rockingham, Western Australia
This gorgeous shot, was sent in by Donna Oliver from western Australia, take a bit of creative license. She says: “The goal was not to shoot the moon as such but to take advantage of the additional light. Obviously on a long exposure, the moon would not look this good, so I shot the moon, then added it. You can see star movement if you look carefully. I made the moon extra large as my interpretation of the Super Moon.”
'The Moon rising behind a couple of palm trees with cows grazing in the foreground. As you can see in the image, the bottom half of the moon has a different tint due to the earths atmosphere.' Credit: Tom Connor, Parrish, FL SuperMoon taken from Alpha Ridge, March 19, 2011. Credit: James WillinghanMoon over New Orleans. Credit: Peter JansenMoon over Cape Town, South Africa. Equipment: Canon 400D, Sigma 170-500 lens 'The Moon was definitely at its best. I did not try any new tricks as I wanted to compare the "supermoon" with my previous attempts. Phocussing was definitely much easier. My exposure was just right to show up the ejecta rays of the impact craters, Tycho and Copernicus as well.' Credit: Carol BothaThe Moon over Gulf Islands National Seashore near Navarre Beach, Florida. Credit: Mindi Meeks. Click the image to see more in a series taken by Mindi.A 'side by side' comparison of 4 different shots taken over the period of 30 hours before 'SuperMoon'. It shows the progression of Moon in it's orbit until the closest point. Credit: Ramiz Qureshi, from Karachi, Pakistan.This one is pretty creative: Saturdays "Supermoon" compared to the size of an apogee moon (2008). The 'big one' was taken yesterday (March 19, 2011). It is compared to the full moon fotographed at 20.4.2008. The same camera and optics was used (Canon EOS 40 D and Canon 100-400L IS @400mm). In 2008 moon distance was 406,000km, Saturday only 357,000km. Credit: Hans Schremmer Niederkrüchten GermanyThe Moon over Teneriffa, Canary Islands. Camera: Atik 314 E, Astrotrac and 70/420 tube. Credit: Vesa K.'I took this in my garden this evening about 9pm using my Tokina 500mm mirror lens. More detail than I was expecting to be honest,' said photographer Dave Green. Click the image to see his Flickr page. 'Supermoon was scared to shows its face to me.' Credit: Euan McIntoshFull moon over Bassett, Virginia, 03/19/2011. Credit: Essie HollandswortImage of the Full Moon at perigee, taken from Tabuk, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on March 19th., 2011 at 20.05UT using a Canon 30D camera set at 1/800sec and 1000ASA. The camera was attached to an 80mm refractor of 500mm focal length and a x3 teleconverter giving an effective focal length of 1,500mm. Credit: Colin Henshaw.The full Moon over England. Credit: Jerry T Krzyzanowski. Click the image to see his gallery.This Super Moon image was taken in Pointe-Claire,Canada. The Super Moon is right behind Mercier bridge, one of the key bridge that ties the Montreal island to the south shore. Credit: Jean-Guy Corbeil, Beaconsfield, QuébecFull Moon over Lake Ontario, beside Hamilton, Ontario (Canada). Credit: Nona Clark
Check out these two from Tavi Greiner on her blog, A Sky Full of Stars: In this one, the Moon rises over a boat on the Shallotte River, just a few hundred yards from the Atlantic Ocean.
And in this one, the Moon appears captured by the rigging, and even almost appears to have lit the ropes on fire.
39 Replies to “Your Pictures of the “Super” Full Moon”
Even though they said it would only be 14% bigger – or, as Neil deGrasse Tyson said, about the difference between an 8″ and 7″ pizza – I still think it looked quite a bit brighter, especially as it was rising! I’m liking all the photos…the time-lapse is cool, and Peter Riesett’s shot is really nice! It’s cool to see people get interested in “looking up”!
Nice clear skies here last night. I had some family over who of course wanted to see it through a telescope. I got lucky – full moon and the ISS passing close by! Unfortunately I was set up for visual viewing, not photography 🙁
Wow! Look at the size of the Moon! My view of the Moon doesn’t look anywhere near as big as that!
No Mercury, no supermoon, nothing. 🙁
Hazy weather here and a Bernadette Peters concert put a crimp in my plans to photograph it. Got a few though and posted them on my website.
i just returned from a nice moonlight walk. it was impossible to resist. we even heard the frogs croaking. sky conditions were crystal clear. got lucky.
We are probably the last people to see it tonight (Saturday)
Why is the media giving this wannabe fraudulent astrologer oxygen?
Do you want SuperMoon to be come part of the vernacular? Because you are doing exactly that! Call it what it is; the closest perigee at full moon etc.
Nice pictures of the full moon, though!!
The article gave no oxygen of publicity to the aforementioned astrologer, nor to astrology, but I think you did quite will.
The article mentions a “super” Moon (using quotes), “super moon” (two words), and “Super Perigee Moon”. Since “perigee” is one of the words that laymen rarely remember, “Super Moon” sounds like a fine alternative, and has little association with astrology. I see no reason to take ownership of a catchy word. Astronomers are quite good with catchy phrases, from Big Bang to Dark Matter.
Isn’t “closest perigee” somewhat tautological? Would a better description be “Perigean Full Moon”, and the Super Duper Moon be a “Proxigean Full Moon”?
I just call it full moon. And I did not see any difference between any other full moon and I have seen many full moons in my life.
Your second paragraph is an excellent example of “the dumbing down” of culture we see today. There is nothing wrong with the word perigee and we should use it. So stop trying to dumb us down – your comments are not appreciated on this site.
And your high school vocabulary that you insist on showing off – nobody cares ian.
Oh excuse me for having an opinion. I take full responsibility for the dumbing down of culture today, and for using big words. As for dumbing some of you down, I wouldn’t dream of it. Perhaps one day I’ll be a cleverer person like you, and be able to use words proper like. But there’s no need to be condescending, or rude.
No one is commenting on you having an opinion, it is just your underlying motive. We’ve already proven you wanna support astrology — or the dodgy pseudoscience.
Plainly treating everyone like dopes is just as, or perhaps, more condescending and rude.
Most like straight-shooters in comment and blog sites, not devious ones with twisted or dishonest opinions loaded with innuendo and hunting for weakness.
Say what ever you want, by as the adage says; A leopard doesn’t change its spots.
Ian, it’s not that you have an opinion, it’s that you’ve incensed the, *THE* Honorable Salacious B. Crumb. If it can be quantified, categorized, or memorized to excruciatingly pedantic measure, he has done it in extremis. There can be only two ideologies, among those who dredge the banal backwaters of these forums. *HIS* and Wrong, and should you *dare* EVER to refute or contend his will then he shall bring down all the wrath of the proverbial heavens upon your head.
Thankfully, I find that if you read his literary riposte whist imagining it being delivered by a pasty version of Steven Urkel, presumably nearing the end of middle age, you can fully appreciate why the internet is the preferred forum of such socially inept creatures.
Oh. This too. The Meta files of the HTML page also now claim;
“META NAME=”Description” CONTENT=”The facts about SuperMoon, straight from the source – the astrologer who coined the term back in 1979.”
Direct evidence of the media has now promoted this astrologer!
(No wonder iantresman here is now literately champing at the bit to support this. Next we will see such ‘promotion’ for wacky “PC/EU” too. If it works once, then why not mimic it!)
I feel you are disrespecting the author of this article and Universe Today because you have hijacked another article which has nothing to do with the subjects you mention (unlike previous articles).
This article is not about the subject you complain of, nor is about the fringe subjects you mention, and nor does it contains the keywords or description you mention. But good work in adding them to this page, which will now draw people to it, who might have gone elsewhere.
Actually too, now my response and complaint here is against you and your comment support for dodgy fringe practices.
My original comment had specifically nothing to do with you, and all I’ve done is support my claim “Why is the media giving this wannabe fraudulent astrologer oxygen?”
I have prove my contention.
What you crazily say here is, frankly, quite irrelevant.
Actually Super moon means nothing.
Super what?
Super bright?
Super Far?
Super close?
Super dense?
Super dark?
Super high?
Super what?
It is good (again) to see the yappy dog attacking on anything but the central issue. Avoidance is certainly not the best way to the credibility one seeks.
Richard Nolle “Certified Professional Astrologer” (actually, he means, certifiable) first line on his re-edited site, now places this as the introduction to his site; “Clearly there’s a lot of confusion about what’s really a SuperMoon. I know, because I created and defined the term in an article published over 30 years ago.” (http://www.astropro.com/features/articles/supermoon/)
No only does he alter his words and history, he is now manipulating the truth to his advantage!! Worst he place his notoriety as the centrepiece to validate his unscientific nutty claims. (Old adage; “He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.”)
Yet we have ol’ iantresman here claiming after all the “article gave no oxygen of publicity…” What?
The media clearly created this whole mess, so let ’em stew in it!
Crumb, view and read this blog. Some were delighted by the moon. And many, though not practiced in astronomical pedantry or self celebration, find this blog a refreshing introduction and revelation. So much more fascinating, and deliriously wondrous than the little oneupmanships that sometime emanate from a tiny little speck in this galaxy. So very silly to argue about the nomenclature of a splendid event.
Well said Rollie.
I did say and qualified;
“Nice pictures of the full moon, though!!”
Rollie,
You and iantresman use words like “nomenclature” and “tautological” in your comments, but I am a pedant for wanting to describe a lunar perigee as a perigee.
rollie, did you observe Super moon? I went out and imaged it with my camera attached to a telescope. Visually, it looked pretty similar to other full moons. Not nearly as beautiful as last December’s lunar eclipse. But then I am a fan of astronomy, and am not just prone to media hype and silly speculation. Also iantresman, what about the natural disasters that were supposed to happen this lunar perigee? No word?
From a fan (not a pedant) of astronomy
“what about the natural disasters that were supposed to happen this lunar perigee”
I have already said that astrology is bunkum. I also don’t subscribe to the idea that a Super Moon (or lunar perigee) will trigger earthquakes around the world.
I also have no problems with using the correct vocabulary, but believe that if want to reach out to Joe Public, that sometimes you have to dumb down first, so you can build up later. I also don’t think this is an either/or case. Draw people in with a sensational Super Moon and pretty picture, explain the astronomy in the article.
Well why didn’t you say that in the first place?
Thank-you everyone for sharing your photos – it was too cloudy in st. paul, mn to see anything. Great photos!
I have to say that even the best photos still can’t beat the live sighting through binoculars and a telescope.
yeah, but by taking the shot you are there, so you actually see it don’t ya? 😉
Anyone notice a crescent-shaped “object” to the upper left of the rising moon in the pic by Bill Dillon: http://www.twitpic.com/4b9lns/full
I don’t see mention of it on his Twitpic page. Looks like a crescent Venus (but of course it’s not any *known* planet). Nemesis? 🙂
Ooops! Make that upper right of the Moon – 2 o’clock position.
Just back from seeing the Moon again. It was just above the horizon and wonderful.
Also Saturn was close to it.
Thanks for sharing the pics. I witnessed it in Melbourne on Saturday and wasnt yet aware at that time that it was the Supermoon until it was in the news. A really beautiful sight. Looked pretty close, big and yellow. Didnt notice the planets though. Love the many shots and perspectives from all over the world.
Sky was clear here (a surprise in itself), but it looked like any other Full Moon, to me…
March 19th passed, and it was just like any other day. What’s the next wacko date? Dec. 21st 2012?
Here’s hoping this will be the last doomsday for a bit. One can only hope for a few decades of sanity. I’m not holding my breath though..
No, you only get a month or so. Some group is saying the world will end on May 21 of this year. And I’m sure someone else will have the world ending on another day after that, — that’s one prediction sure to come true!
Don’t these idiots have anything better to do? Making random guesses about the date of the end of the world is seriously what these people do all day?
At this moment they are under their rock waiting until some other crackpot comes around and claim some easily debunkable claim if you have an IQ of 50 or above. So far we lost all traces of anyone that promoted this moon BS.
I was looking at the moon saturday, wondering why it was so shiny and it felt huge. As its normally the same size of a church clock i can see from my balcony.
but this explains it, just wish i knew and had a telescope.
This morning while driving to work, the moon was beautiful over the horizon.
Even though they said it would only be 14% bigger – or, as Neil deGrasse Tyson said, about the difference between an 8″ and 7″ pizza – I still think it looked quite a bit brighter, especially as it was rising! I’m liking all the photos…the time-lapse is cool, and Peter Riesett’s shot is really nice! It’s cool to see people get interested in “looking up”!
Nice clear skies here last night. I had some family over who of course wanted to see it through a telescope. I got lucky – full moon and the ISS passing close by! Unfortunately I was set up for visual viewing, not photography 🙁
Wow! Look at the size of the Moon! My view of the Moon doesn’t look anywhere near as big as that!
No Mercury, no supermoon, nothing. 🙁
Hazy weather here and a Bernadette Peters concert put a crimp in my plans to photograph it. Got a few though and posted them on my website.
http://halfastro.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/super-moon-good-to-see-javelinas/
Enjoy!
i just returned from a nice moonlight walk. it was impossible to resist. we even heard the frogs croaking. sky conditions were crystal clear. got lucky.
We are probably the last people to see it tonight (Saturday)
Why is the media giving this wannabe fraudulent astrologer oxygen?
Do you want SuperMoon to be come part of the vernacular? Because you are doing exactly that! Call it what it is; the closest perigee at full moon etc.
Nice pictures of the full moon, though!!
The article gave no oxygen of publicity to the aforementioned astrologer, nor to astrology, but I think you did quite will.
The article mentions a “super” Moon (using quotes), “super moon” (two words), and “Super Perigee Moon”. Since “perigee” is one of the words that laymen rarely remember, “Super Moon” sounds like a fine alternative, and has little association with astrology. I see no reason to take ownership of a catchy word. Astronomers are quite good with catchy phrases, from Big Bang to Dark Matter.
Isn’t “closest perigee” somewhat tautological? Would a better description be “Perigean Full Moon”, and the Super Duper Moon be a “Proxigean Full Moon”?
I just call it full moon. And I did not see any difference between any other full moon and I have seen many full moons in my life.
Your second paragraph is an excellent example of “the dumbing down” of culture we see today. There is nothing wrong with the word perigee and we should use it. So stop trying to dumb us down – your comments are not appreciated on this site.
And your high school vocabulary that you insist on showing off – nobody cares ian.
Oh excuse me for having an opinion. I take full responsibility for the dumbing down of culture today, and for using big words. As for dumbing some of you down, I wouldn’t dream of it. Perhaps one day I’ll be a cleverer person like you, and be able to use words proper like. But there’s no need to be condescending, or rude.
No one is commenting on you having an opinion, it is just your underlying motive. We’ve already proven you wanna support astrology — or the dodgy pseudoscience.
Plainly treating everyone like dopes is just as, or perhaps, more condescending and rude.
Most like straight-shooters in comment and blog sites, not devious ones with twisted or dishonest opinions loaded with innuendo and hunting for weakness.
Say what ever you want, by as the adage says; A leopard doesn’t change its spots.
Ian, it’s not that you have an opinion, it’s that you’ve incensed the, *THE* Honorable Salacious B. Crumb. If it can be quantified, categorized, or memorized to excruciatingly pedantic measure, he has done it in extremis. There can be only two ideologies, among those who dredge the banal backwaters of these forums. *HIS* and Wrong, and should you *dare* EVER to refute or contend his will then he shall bring down all the wrath of the proverbial heavens upon your head.
Thankfully, I find that if you read his literary riposte whist imagining it being delivered by a pasty version of Steven Urkel, presumably nearing the end of middle age, you can fully appreciate why the internet is the preferred forum of such socially inept creatures.
Oh. This too. The Meta files of the HTML page also now claim;
“META NAME=”Description” CONTENT=”The facts about SuperMoon, straight from the source – the astrologer who coined the term back in 1979.”
META NAME=”KeyWords” CONTENT=”SuperMoons, perigees syzygy syzygies, Astropro, interactive multimedia REAL astrology, personal astrological consultations, charts, forecasts, horoscopes, reports, certified professional astrologer Richard Nolle, astrologia, astrologie, forecasting, metaphysics, aphelia, aphelions, apogees, Aquarius, Aries, aspects, asteroids, Blue Moons, Cancer, Capricorn, Chiron, comets, conjunctions, Cosmic Connections, destiny, earthquakes, eclipses, ecliptic, 800 numbers, Galactic Center, galaxy, Gemini, geocentric, geocosmic, heliocentrics, houses, inconjuncts quincunxes, Jupiter, Leo, Libra, lunar, lunations, magnetars, Mars, Mercury, meteors, midpoints, mundane, natal, Neptune, New Age, nodes, oppositions, perihelia, perihelions, Pisces, planetary, planets, Pluto, predictions, progressed, progressions, retrogrades, Sagittarius, Saturn, Scorpio, semisquares, sextiles, sky, solar system, squares, stars, stellar, storms, Sun, Taurus, trines, Uranus, Venus, Virgo, zodiacs, zodiacal signs”
Direct evidence of the media has now promoted this astrologer!
(No wonder iantresman here is now literately champing at the bit to support this. Next we will see such ‘promotion’ for wacky “PC/EU” too. If it works once, then why not mimic it!)
I feel you are disrespecting the author of this article and Universe Today because you have hijacked another article which has nothing to do with the subjects you mention (unlike previous articles).
This article is not about the subject you complain of, nor is about the fringe subjects you mention, and nor does it contains the keywords or description you mention. But good work in adding them to this page, which will now draw people to it, who might have gone elsewhere.
Actually too, now my response and complaint here is against you and your comment support for dodgy fringe practices.
My original comment had specifically nothing to do with you, and all I’ve done is support my claim “Why is the media giving this wannabe fraudulent astrologer oxygen?”
I have prove my contention.
What you crazily say here is, frankly, quite irrelevant.
Actually Super moon means nothing.
Super what?
Super bright?
Super Far?
Super close?
Super dense?
Super dark?
Super high?
Super what?
It is good (again) to see the yappy dog attacking on anything but the central issue. Avoidance is certainly not the best way to the credibility one seeks.
Richard Nolle “Certified Professional Astrologer” (actually, he means, certifiable) first line on his re-edited site, now places this as the introduction to his site; “Clearly there’s a lot of confusion about what’s really a SuperMoon. I know, because I created and defined the term in an article published over 30 years ago.” (http://www.astropro.com/features/articles/supermoon/)
No only does he alter his words and history, he is now manipulating the truth to his advantage!! Worst he place his notoriety as the centrepiece to validate his unscientific nutty claims. (Old adage; “He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.”)
Yet we have ol’ iantresman here claiming after all the “article gave no oxygen of publicity…” What?
The media clearly created this whole mess, so let ’em stew in it!
Crumb, view and read this blog. Some were delighted by the moon. And many, though not practiced in astronomical pedantry or self celebration, find this blog a refreshing introduction and revelation. So much more fascinating, and deliriously wondrous than the little oneupmanships that sometime emanate from a tiny little speck in this galaxy. So very silly to argue about the nomenclature of a splendid event.
Well said Rollie.
I did say and qualified;
“Nice pictures of the full moon, though!!”
Rollie,
You and iantresman use words like “nomenclature” and “tautological” in your comments, but I am a pedant for wanting to describe a lunar perigee as a perigee.
rollie, did you observe Super moon? I went out and imaged it with my camera attached to a telescope. Visually, it looked pretty similar to other full moons. Not nearly as beautiful as last December’s lunar eclipse. But then I am a fan of astronomy, and am not just prone to media hype and silly speculation. Also iantresman, what about the natural disasters that were supposed to happen this lunar perigee? No word?
From a fan (not a pedant) of astronomy
“what about the natural disasters that were supposed to happen this lunar perigee”
I have already said that astrology is bunkum. I also don’t subscribe to the idea that a Super Moon (or lunar perigee) will trigger earthquakes around the world.
I also have no problems with using the correct vocabulary, but believe that if want to reach out to Joe Public, that sometimes you have to dumb down first, so you can build up later. I also don’t think this is an either/or case. Draw people in with a sensational Super Moon and pretty picture, explain the astronomy in the article.
Well why didn’t you say that in the first place?
Thank-you everyone for sharing your photos – it was too cloudy in st. paul, mn to see anything. Great photos!
I have to say that even the best photos still can’t beat the live sighting through binoculars and a telescope.
yeah, but by taking the shot you are there, so you actually see it don’t ya? 😉
Anyone notice a crescent-shaped “object” to the upper left of the rising moon in the pic by Bill Dillon: http://www.twitpic.com/4b9lns/full
I don’t see mention of it on his Twitpic page. Looks like a crescent Venus (but of course it’s not any *known* planet). Nemesis? 🙂
Ooops! Make that upper right of the Moon – 2 o’clock position.
Just back from seeing the Moon again. It was just above the horizon and wonderful.
Also Saturn was close to it.
Thanks for sharing the pics. I witnessed it in Melbourne on Saturday and wasnt yet aware at that time that it was the Supermoon until it was in the news. A really beautiful sight. Looked pretty close, big and yellow. Didnt notice the planets though. Love the many shots and perspectives from all over the world.
Sky was clear here (a surprise in itself), but it looked like any other Full Moon, to me…
March 19th passed, and it was just like any other day. What’s the next wacko date? Dec. 21st 2012?
Here’s hoping this will be the last doomsday for a bit. One can only hope for a few decades of sanity. I’m not holding my breath though..
No, you only get a month or so. Some group is saying the world will end on May 21 of this year. And I’m sure someone else will have the world ending on another day after that, — that’s one prediction sure to come true!
Don’t these idiots have anything better to do? Making random guesses about the date of the end of the world is seriously what these people do all day?
At this moment they are under their rock waiting until some other crackpot comes around and claim some easily debunkable claim if you have an IQ of 50 or above. So far we lost all traces of anyone that promoted this moon BS.
I was looking at the moon saturday, wondering why it was so shiny and it felt huge. As its normally the same size of a church clock i can see from my balcony.
but this explains it, just wish i knew and had a telescope.
This morning while driving to work, the moon was beautiful over the horizon.