Jordans Estate Glamping HQ
On January 31st 2018 (This coming Wednesday) there will be a Super Blue Moon.
The modern definition of a Blue Moon is the second full moon in a calendar month. This occurs every few years and quite unusually this year has 2 Blue Moons, in January and March. After this the next Blue Moon will occur in October 2020 and then August 2023.
You can see that they do not occur often and are probably the origin of the saying ‘once in a blue moon.’
Glastonbury Tor (Source – NASA)
This photo was taken from Jordans Estate Glamping HQ on New Years’ Day which happened to be a Super Full Moon. It was taken with a run of the mill telescope with a smart phone pointing down the eyepiece. (The image is inverted due to the telescopes internal mirrors) It has certainly whet my appetite for astronomy as the detail through the eyepiece is amazing.
The Moon’s orbit around the Earth is elliptical meaning that at it’s closest point (Perigee) it is some 30,000 miles closer than at it’s further point (Apogee).
A Super Moon occurs when there is a full moon that coincides with the Moon being at it’s closest to the Earth. It therefore appears to be some 14% bigger than normal, and hence is referred to as a Super Moon. This video explains it all better. It is most obvious when close to the horizon.
Source – NASA
Source – NASA