Looking forward to seeing this later - will try and get a picture if its not too cloudy.

Cobblers term.


Have super clouds anyway.

c. 14% bigger ==> c. 30% brighter. That was noticeable.
No view to the East from here but I did see a great red moon set early in the morning. Unfortunately it was through the trees so a photo wasn't on.

"This May’s full Moon is a "super Moon,” as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full Moons of 2012." See http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-na... or other similar sources.

Its the angular size difference I think is minuscule in this event? (will have a look after)

What was the measured size? Not checked, is it a case of the TV saying 14% bigger and everyone thinks massively visually so?

http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html

Looks like 1360 km closer than the last one.

What's this canals of mars thing?

Need to check the sums as I could not be bothered in digging the book out.


I used this http://www.1728.org/angsize.htm

Using April 22nd and May 6 for Apogee and Perigee respectively it is 29 vs 33 minutes near as damn it rounded down. In degrees it is .49 vs .56


For another close approach in comparison, April 7th vs May 6, it is 33.349 minutes vs 33.476 Minutes. Degrees, 0.55582 vs 0.55794


Considering it is a small object anyway, who can tell the difference if they did not know?

That is a well known phenomenon known as The Moon Illusion. People generally think that the full moon, seen just over the horizon, looks a lot bigger than a full moon high in the sky.

In reality, there is no difference. In fact, a moon high in the sky is fractionally closer to the observer than one seen just after it has risen above the horizon.

It is a form of optical illusion which no one has really been able to identify a single cause for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_illusion

Regarding the Canals of Mars, in the 1880s an Italian astonomer called Schiaparelli thought he saw dark but realtively staright lines on the surface of Mars which he called "Canali", which means Channels in English.
This was mistranslated as "canals" in the English speaking media of the day and prompted much debate as to whether they were a natural feature or a manifestation of engineering by an intelligent race.

By 1910 or so, about half of the astronomical community were convinced that the canals were real and about half of that number thought they were artificial. Many astronomers though, were extremely sceptical and could not even see the canals. Yet detailed maps were drawn up and the canals were even named.



When space probes started visting Mars from 1965 onwards, it was obvious that the canals had never existed and had been a form of optical delusion which some people saw and others didn't.

That's no moon...