Earth enjoys full moon close-up - BBC News
Bummer. Last weekend was apparently the fullest, brightest moon since 1993. And instead of stalking the towpath, there I was, Lazarus on my deathbed. (I was saved by a miracle, thanks for asking.)
Did you see brightest full moon in fifteen years? Lucky you.
In Biggest Full Moon of the Year, the NASA website has a good technical description of what it meant, concluding, in practical terms:
What you will see is the world around you. This is both the brightest and (in the northern hemisphere) the highest-riding full Moon of the year.
If you go outside around midnight it will be close to overhead and act like a cosmic floodlamp making the landscape absolutely brilliant, especially if there's snow.
Full moons are always high during winter and, indeed, the solstice is right around the corner on Dec. 21st.
This is why I turn werewolf every month, and is one reason why I love the winter. With a good camera and tripod, moonlight turns the earth into another planet, still largely unexplored by photographers.
Early last week I attended the Nikon Solutions Expo at Olympia. This is Nikon's own annual show, and they had a display of photography by young photographers. Only one or two pictures out of about 150 were of night scenes.
They also had a lecture by Joe Cornish, one of the world's leading landscape photographers, and he never mentioned night photography. Indeed, he runs courses which feature 'dusk and dawn' scenes, which probably means he makes everyone go to bed early and get up early - something a night photographer can't do.
Even if you could get a 2016 diary, you'd probably lose it by then :)
Bring on the Solstice!
Posted by: boat design | Wednesday, 17 December 2008 at 05:13 AM
And, don't worry; just make a note in your diary for November 14, 2016 when it all happens again!!
Posted by: Kevin | Tuesday, 16 December 2008 at 10:07 AM
Clouds parted briefly here in Bucks but blowed if we could notice a difference - we had heard about it and were looking for it, so rest easy!
Posted by: Nick Corble | Tuesday, 16 December 2008 at 09:52 AM
Hi Just wanted to wish you a happy Christmas ,,,My blog pixiehousedesigns is no more ,,,I just have this blog now
Happy New Year
Wendy x
Posted by: wendy | Monday, 15 December 2008 at 08:50 PM
We also had too much cloud cover, very dissappointing, I was so looking forward to it.
Glad you are on the road to recovery, don't do too much too soon
Posted by: Kath Corbett | Monday, 15 December 2008 at 05:59 PM
Don't worry, you didn't miss much -- the weather in Essex was rubbish. All you could see was cloud. Great shame.
Posted by: Kevin | Monday, 15 December 2008 at 05:30 PM