Universe Today
The full Moon of June 23, 2013 was the largest Moon of the year. This so-called "Super Moon" was at perigee -- or at its closest point in its orbit to Earth, and was 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full Moons of 2013.
But, if you looked up at the Moon last night and didn't know about this, you may not have noticed! Some claims circulating on the internet tended to exaggerate how large the Moon would actually appear. However, that doesn't mean the Moon wasn't photogenic last night! The Moon is always a great target for photography or just gazing with your own eyes, and these images from Universe Today readers attest to the beauty of our closest companion in the night sky.
This lead image from Raven Yu from the Philippines shows the difference in size between last night's perigee Moon and the apogee Moon (when it was farthest from Earth during its orbit) last November.
If you want to find out more about the science of the perigee Super Moon, read our detailed article here.
See more beautiful images, below!
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Three different views of the Moon over Italy during the night of June 23, 2013 helps debunk the optical illusion of the Moon looking bigger when it's low on the horizon. Credit and copyright: Giuseppe Petricca.[/caption]
Three different pictures of the Moon from June 23, shared by Guiseppe Petricca from Italy, detailing not only the perigee Super Moon, but the 'Moon Illusion" -- of how the Moon looks bigger when it is close to the horizon.
"The middle one is the Moon at culmination in the local sky and the other two are taken as low as possible my local horizon permitted," Guiseppe said via email. "Doing this, I managed to obtain two results: the first one is observing the different colours that due to the Rayleigh Scattering, 'paint' our satellite, when it's low on its elevation. The second one is that, keeping a fixed magnification (24x - 110mm) one can easily debunk the optical illusion of the 'bigger moon when it's low on the horizon'. Since, if you observe carefully, the lower two 'Moons' are smaller than the higher one. However, the total personal experience is surely wonderful!! And the 'horizon illusion' makes you really think that the Moon is way bigger that the reality."
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The Supermoon rising on June 23rd, 22:40 pm above the forest canopy top in Puerto Rico. This is a 6 panel mosaic. Credit and copyright: Efrain Morales, Jaicoa Observatory. [/caption]
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The Super Moon on June 23, 2013 as seen over Malta. Credit and copyright: Leonard E. Mercer.[/caption]
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The perigee 'Super Moon' of June 23, 2013 as seen over Sesimbra, Portugal and the church Nossa Senhora do Castelo. Credit and copyright: Miguel Claro. [/caption]
Miguel Claro captured this beautiful image of the huge full Moon rising above a Moorish castle in Sesimbra, Portugal. "The church Nossa Senhora do Castelo stands on the spot where king Sancho I built a Romanesque chapel in the early 13th century," Miguel said via email. "This image was captured 2 km away from the subject." Miguel used a Canon 50D – ISO640; 1/80 sec. + ED80 APO refractor Astro Professional 560mm at f/7 taken on 23/06/2013 at 21h22.
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The perigee Super Moon of June 23, 2013 as seen over São Paulo, Brazil. Time: 01:40 UTC, using a Maksutov Cassegrain Vixen 110 mm - F = 1035 mm - F/9.4 - Plano Focal - Nikon D3100 - 1/80 - ISO 200. Credit and copyright: Ednilson Oliveira.[/caption]
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An early image of the perigee Super Moon -- the Moon setting the morning of June 23, 2013 just after 5 a.m. EDT over Toronto, Canada. 'As I understand it perigee occurred between 7:11 - 7:13 a.m. EDT, so this was my 'launch window' to 'Shoot the Perigee Moon'. The atmosphere was thick with haze which dimmed the Moon substantially and allowed the surface maria to be photographed.' Credit and copyright: Rick Ellis. [/caption]
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The perigee Super Moon rising over the floodwaters of the Bow River during a record flood that inundated many parts of southern Alberta around rivers, including here on the Siksika First Nations reserve. Credit and copyright: Alan Dyer/Astronomy Calgary/Amazing Sky Photography.[/caption]
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A 3-photo HDR image of the supermoon rising over downtown Tucson, Arizona. During the longer exposure the Moon gave out its own flare due to its intensity. Credit and copyright: Sean Parker/Sean Parker Photography. [/caption]
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The full perigee Moon rising on June 23, 2013. Credit and copyright: Sculptor Lil on Flickr. [/caption]
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Full Moon Rising Over Northwest Georgia on June 22nd, 2013. Credit and copyright: Stephen Rahn. [/caption]
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The perigee Super Moon on June 23, 2013, taken with a Skywatcher ED80 Refractor and a Canon 600D at prime focus. Best 20 of 40 images stacked in Registax 6. False colour removed as the Moon appeared dull red as it was so low in sky. Credit and copyright: James Lennie.[/caption]
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The view of June 23rd 2013 Supermoon from Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies (Caribbean). Credit and copyright: Apple Lilly. (This image is the right size to fit a Facebook cover image, the photographer says).
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You can see more great images of this perigee Super Moon -- and lots more great astrophotography at our
Flickr group
page.
Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you're giving us permission to post them). Please explain what's in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
