Perigee Moons of July and August 2014

September 08, 2014

PoseidonMoon

Mmmmmm

Photographers: Top - Constantine Emmanouilidi; Bottom - Mohamed Laaifat
Summary Authors: Constantine Emmanouilidi; Mohamed Laaifat; Jim Foster
 
This month's full Moon is the third consecutive perigee moon, or super moon, of the year. When the Moon happens to be full and near the point in its orbit closest to the Earth (perigee), it can be as much as 25 percent brighter and appear about 10 percent bigger than when it's at apogee. However, since there's no reference point when looking at the Moon, most people have a hard time noticing much difference in the size and brightness between one full Moon and another.
 
The full Moon at top appears to rise through the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, Greece. It was taken in July 2014, during the summer's first super moon. Getting this shot took considerable preparation. I needed to hike down a sharp cliff carrying heavy telescopes and cameras in order to reach the location where the alignment would be possible.
 
The bottom photo shows the super moon of August (August 11, 2014) as captured near Paris, France.
 
Photo details: Top: 106 mm refracting telescope; and full frame DSLR camera working at f/5. Bottom: Taken with Nikon d60 camera; sigma 70-300 mm lens.