On Sunday, September 27, 2015 at 5:03:18 PM UTC-7, Sam Wormley wrote:
On 9/26/15 6:54 PM, Sam Wormley wrote:
Supermoon plus eclipse equals rare sky show Sunday night
http://phys.org/news/2015-09-supermo...are-sky_1.html


Get ready for a rare double feature, starring our very own moon.

A total lunar eclipse will share the stage with a so-called supermoon
Sunday night or early Monday, depending where you are. That
combination hasn't been seen since 1982 and won't happen again until
2033.

When a full or new moon makes its closest approach to Earth, that's a
supermoon. Although still about 220,000 miles away, this full moon
will look bigger and brighter than usual. In fact, it will be the
closest full moon of the year, about 30,000 miles closer than the
average distance. (The moon's orbit is far from a perfect circle.)

NASA planetary scientist Noah Petro is hoping the celestial event
will ignite more interest in the moon. He is deputy project for the
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, which has been studying the
moon from lunar orbit since 2009.

"The moon's a dynamic place," Petro said Wednesday. "We're seeing
changes on the surface of the moon from LRO. We're seeing that it's
not this static dead body in the sky ... it's this great astronomical
object that we have in our backyard, essentially. So people should
get out and start looking at it."



The moon has ris in my neck of the woods. This rare eclipse starts
in less than ten minutes. And clear skies!


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Moon rise is 6 minutes away here on the west coast of the USA, and it is a beautiful clear evening... can't wait!