What a splendid golden full moon it was, and what a treasure to behold coming up over the trees. It would have been grand to see a meteor shower last night too - the Eta Aquarid meteor shower (debris from Haley's Comet) is peaking this weekend, but alas, that is best seen from the southern hemisphere and not up here in the north.
May's full moon is the supermoon for this year, and Lady Moon was closer to the earth last evening than she will be at any other time in 2012 - much bigger and much brighter. Size and brightness follow Sir Isaac Newton's Inverse Square Law, and that means a supermoon is about twelve percent larger and brighter than the average full moon is in her radiance. The appearance of a supermoon is not a sudden thing, for there are changes in the moon's appearance from night to night and month to month, but the changes are gradual, and most of the time we simply don't notice them. Supermoons occur approximately 412 days apart.
Astrologers coined the term supermoon in the seventies. Astronomers and other members of the scientific community prefer to call the phenomenon a perigee-syzygy: perigee describing the point at which the moon is closest to the earth, and syzygy referring to either the new moon or a full moon. Both the new moon and the full moon are times when the earth, moon and sun are lined up or almost so.
Whatever one calls it, such a moon is a glorious thing and something to remember. We also know May's golden moon as the:
Alewife Moon, Anagantios Moon, Blossom Moon, Bottlebrush Moon, Bright Moon, Budding Moon, Corn Planting Moon, Death Moon, Dragon Moon, Dyad Moon, Fawns Moon , Field Maker Moon, Fifth Moon, Fish Moon, Flowering Moon, Frog Moon, Frogs Return Moon, Geese Go North Moon, Geese Moon, Grass Moon, Green Leaf Moon, Hare Moon, Hoeing Corn Moon, Idle Moon, Iris Moon, Joy Moon, Leaf Dancing Moon, Leaves Appear Moon, Leaves Tender Moon, Lily of the Valley Moon, Little Corn Moon, Little Finger Moon, Magnolia Moon, Merry Moon, Milk Moon, Moon of Big Leaf, Moon of the Strawberry, Moon of the Camas Harvest, Moon of Waiting, Moon To Plant, Moon When Corn is Planted, Moon When Ponies Shed Their Fur, Moon When the Buffalo Plant is in Flower, Moon When the Leaves Are Green, Moon When the Little Flowers Die, Moon When the Horses Get Fat, Moon When Women Weed Corn, Mulberry Moon, Mulberry Ripening Moon, New Waters Moon, Old Woman Moon, Panther Moon, Penawen Moon, Peony Moon, Planting Moon, Putting Seeds in the Hole Moon, Seeds Moon, Seeds Ripen Moon, Sprout Kale Moon, Staying Home Moon, Storing Moon, Strawberry Moon, Suckers Dried Moon Summer Moon, Thrice Milk Moon When the Ponies Shed Their Shaggy Hair Moon, Wind Tossed Moon, Winnemon Moon.
8 comments:
Only cloud cover where I was, but I am enjoying the photos of others.
The moon illuminated Santa Fe with a soft glow. I was able to potter about in the garden until midnight. In addition to being down in the garden, I transplanted flowers into big pots on the upper deck.
Alewife moon? Hmmm...
We had cloud cover here as well :( Was so looking forward to seeing it rise. Maybe tonight if the sky is clear I'll get a peak...
Somehow Alewife Moon resonates with me! I did lift a glass of hard cider in Her honor last night! :)
Stunning photo of the Super moon...as always!I couldn't wait to see it today on your blog!! I like Leaves Tender Moon as they are all still really tiny and tender!
BTW...an Alewife is a small herring like fish that I remember had exploded in Lk. Michigan due to low predator fish numbers...they were washed up on the beaches by the millions!! Quite fishy! :) But I suppose one could be an Ale~wife and lift a toast!! :))
I agree with Cindy: Somehow Alewife Moon resonates with me, too! I drank a bottle of Leinenkuegel's Summer Shandy while gardening under the moon.
But the thought of alewife reminded me of the year that alewives washed on the shores of Lake Michigan,giving cities like Milwaukee, Port Washington and Green Bay a foul fish smell. There is also a belly-up visual to accompany the smell.
Like Christinafrutiger, I was eager to see the photo with this blog.
What a great shot! I saw the moon come up a couple nights ago, but my photos did not do it justice.
Hallo there! I went outside for several nights running, but we had cloud cover, though I could feel her behind the clouds.
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