Saturday's parting (moon) shot

Photo via Grant Shaffer ...

A lunar landscape

A shot of last night's waning gibbous Moon with 95 percent illumination as seen from the East Village (via telescope)... Photo by Grant Shaffer

The supermoon in the wild

People are talking about the moon ... and taking photos of it. Per NPR:

It's the nearest supermoon in almost 70 years — and we won't see another like it until 2034.

"When a full moon makes its closest pass to Earth in its orbit it appears up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter, making it a supermoon," NASA says.

And!

In the U.S., we'll get three chances to see the moon at its brightest and biggest, from around sunset Sunday to Monday's predawn and sunset. On both days, the moon will rise around sunset.

EVG reader SylviaG shared these photos from today...





Keep an eye out for Felton Davis with his telescope on Third Street and Second Avenue outside the Bean.

Good morning, here is a photo of the moon last night

Photo from Earth by Grant Shaffer.

The Hunter’s Supermoon, night 1

[Photo by Liza Béar]

Let's start by cutting-n-pasting this from National Geographic:

Sky-watchers are gearing up for a super-sized moon that will grace evening skies this Sunday, October 16. The so-called hunter’s supermoon kicks off a lunar triple play happening over the next three months.

This month’s full moon is known in North America as the hunter’s moon. That’s because in other months, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, while the October moon rises just 30 minutes later. That offers more light overall during a 24-hour day, which came in handy for traditional hunters. [Ed note: Does this make it paleo?]

This month, the moon officially reaches its full phase at 12:23 a.m. ET (4:23 UT) on October 16, which means that the lunar disk will appear nearly equally full on the nights of both October 15 and 16.

Last night, local astronomy buff Felton Davis has his rig up on Second Avenue and East Houston for some supermoon viewing (top photo) ... Unfortunately, not everyone was buying it...

@evgrieve obviously fake. #fakemoonlanding #fuckthefullmoon #bullshit pic.twitter.com/W7hb4m6EWs

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) October 16, 2016

And here's a view after midnight and early this morning via Bobby Williams...





And why does the moon have a reddish tint in the first photo from Bobby? It's sunburnt, of course.

Via EarthSky:

"The orange colour of a moon near the horizon is a true physical effect. It stems from the fact that - when you look toward the horizon - you are looking through a greater thickness of Earth’s atmosphere than when you gaze up and overhead.

The atmosphere scatters blue light - that’s why the sky looks blue. The greater thickness of atmosphere in the direction of a horizon scatters blue light most effectively, but it lets red light pass through to your eyes. So a full moon near the horizon — any full moon near the horizon — takes on a yellow or orange or reddish hue."

Anyway, keep an eye up tonight... and I believe Felton will be back on Second Avenue and East Houston for a better view...

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo from Second Avenue and Fourth Street by Derek Berg

Parting Tuesday shot

Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place via Greg Masters...

How about that moon last night

...Early evening from East Sixth Street...


[EVG]

...and later from a telescope...


[Grant Shaffer]

Moons dreams

Last night via Grant Shaffer

Last night: Earlier then later

Full moon!



Then about 2:20 a.m. via Bobby Williams...

[Updated] Where you can (hopefully) view the super blood moon tonight

Let's just cut-and-paste this explanation from The New York Times:

A rare astronomical phenomenon Sunday night will produce a moon that will appear slightly bigger than usual and have a reddish hue, an event known as a super blood moon.

It’s a combination of curiosities that hasn’t happened since 1982... A so-called supermoon, which occurs when the moon is closest to earth in its orbit, will coincide with a lunar eclipse, leaving the moon in Earth’s shadow. Individually, the two phenomena are not uncommon, but they do not align often.

For these kinds of events, we usually look to local astronomy buff Felton Davis of Maryhouse, who sets up his telescope in strategic points in the neighborhood. However, he is out of town at the moment... in his absence, EV resident Danielle Baskin along with her friend Maya Eilam and Joanne Kennedy from the Maryhouse are operating the telescope. Felton has trained them how to set up the gear ... so if the weather cooperates, then East Village residents can still view the spectacle.

Danielle and company will be by the Second Avenue F station (Second Avenue and East Houston) from 7 p.m. onward. The eclipse should reach totality at around 10:45 p.m.

Keep in mind that this moon won't happen again until 2033, the same time when work is expected to be complete at the Astor Place Reconstruction Project

Image via the U.S. Naval Observatory

Updated 9-28

A good number of people turned out that evening to take in the super blood moon here on Second Avenue between East First Street and Houston…


[Photo via Danielle Baskin]

The moon at the moment

The view tonight from the East Village via Grant Shaffer

The July 4th moon

Photo last night via Grant Shaffer

5:15 a.m.

Photo by Bobby Williams

Jupiter and moons tonight

Local astronomy buff Felton Davis passed along the following...

If it's clear I will set up on the corner of East 3rd Street and 2nd Avenue at 8 pm to show Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, presently high in the constellation Cancer.

Jupiter was in Leo last fall, has been shifting retrograde (clockwise) toward Cancer all winter, and in a few weeks will turn and move back (counter-clockwise) toward Leo. This is due to the relative positions of Earth as an inner planet versus Jupiter as an outer planet.

One of Jupiter's largest moons, Europa, will disappear behind the planet at 8:30 pm, and re-emerge from the other side, at around 11:30. Although Ganymede and Callisto are both larger than our moon, Europa and Io are a little smaller.

Tonight's photogenic moon

Somewhere over East Fifth Street via Derek Berg...

Tonight's moon

Photo by Grant Shaffer

A Village moon view

The moon seemingly setting just beyond Village View this morning around 6:20 ... photo by Bobby Williams

It's the Full Snow Moon

EVG regular Grant Shaffer took this tonight in Tompkins Square Park...

Hey, where's Jupiter???

Some background via Universe Today:

February’s full moon is aptly named the Full Snow Moon as snowfall can be heavy this month.

And!

The Full Moon celebrates Jupiter’s coming opposition by accompanying the bright planet in a beautiful conjunction tonight.

And here is the moon from 2:03 a.m. overnight via Bobby Williams and his EV Observatory...

The planets are lining up tonight for your viewing pleasure (hopefully)

Local astronomy buff Felton Davis passed along the following …

Furnerius, Petavius, Vendelinus, and Langrenus were so jagged last night on the rim of the 2nd day old crescent moon that they looked like scabs about to be broken off. Tonight there will be a fascinating arrangement as Mercury, Venus, Neptune, Mars and the Moon all line up in the southwest at sunset.

I will set up on the corner of 2nd Avenue and East 3rd Street as usual, at about 5 p.m., but we don't have a really clear perspective toward the southwest. People may want to check out other locations.