Moon madness: March 19, 2011

No, really. Madness. Oliver-the-brave, who terrorizes wild turkey and deer, cringed on the front porch beside me. Something out there was scaring him in the dark.


The moon was coming up through the trees. The setting was perfect.

The neighbour's dogs were howling at the wolves.

How creepy is this?

Soon, the moon was a little above the tree line.

I was frackin' freezing. My baby fingers were starting to freeze, and no, I didn't remember gloves.
I had the tripod, the flashlight (to better see the camera settings), and the videocam.
Which was useless. I was so cold I was shaking!

I thought I'd get the sound of the wolves. The traffic was pretty heavy, fast and loud. No video success at all.

Instead, photos caught, we came indoors, checked out a pretty cold, tired little cat, who had been out in the sun all afternoon huntin', and watched a Midsomer Murder mystery!
Why is the cat so tired, we might ask.
The little cat caught the dang chipmunk, but evidently he now ascribes to the catch and release program. He caught it, let it run away and caught it again.

I threw on coat and boots, and ran like a madwoman, while Oliver stared at me.


Said chippie is safe dreaming dreams of nuts and berries. At least tonight.

Moonlight perigee

Last night Ian Black, our intrepid Ottawa weather forecaster, visitor to many a grade 5 classroom (it's in the gr. 5 Ontario curriculum!), sent a tweet:
'Full moon will be largest in nearly 20 years tonight. Moonrise is at 7:38 pm.'
@BlacksWeather

This is due to apogee and perigee.


SUPER MOON: Watch out for the Moon on Saturday night. It's the biggest full Moon in 18 years. Astronomers call it a "perigee Moon," and it raises extra-high perigean tides. Contrary to some reports, however, this event will not trigger any natural disasters. Science@NASA has the full story.

You can tell what an amateur I am. Mind you, in the dark, with freezing temps! It was much easier to take a good shot in the summer...

The moon is, on average, 384,399.86 km from Earth. The moon's orbit around Earth -- which causes it to go through all its phases once every 29.5 days -- is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse.

One side of the orbit is 50,002 km closer than the other.

The moon reaches this closest point to us, called perigee. Once or twice a year, perigee coincides with a full moon, as it did last night, making the moon appear bigger and brighter than any other full moons during the year.

I've been trying to capture the moon. It is darned tricky. Now, with my tripod, it makes life much easier. I won't bother to tell you how, as there are many pros out there who can give you better guidelines than I.

However, do remember to bracket your exposures, use a tripod, and if you don't have a cable, use the timer setting. That way you don't risk jostling the camera as you press the button!








At the old house, the moonlight on the water was the best part of the scene.

Each month brings another full moon name.

The moon does have an effect on our planet, aside from normal tides. 

 Moon facts :

*  The moon is moving away,  4 cm per year. 

*  A full moon at perigee brings higher ocean tides.

*  This creates tides in the planet's crust, not just in the oceans.

*  Beaches are more polluted during full moon, owing to the higher tides.

Even stars are hard to capture!