Friday, October 30, 2020
Apogee (mini) Full Moon October 31- Novermber 1, 2020
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| Full Moon November 1 02:00 (AEDST), apogee -20h. Minimum libration +27h | Full Moon April 08 12:35, perigee April 08 + 8h |
The full Moon on the evening of Saturday October 31 (WA)/ early morning November 1 (rest of Australia) is a apogee full Moon, that is a full Moon that occurs when furthest from the Earth. A "mini Moon if you will.
This is in contrast to the Perigee "super" Full Moon April 08. If you have a good memory you will see that this full Moon is smaller than the April one (although not by much to the unaided eye, but it will be clear in binoculars and telescopes).
That doesn't mean you shouldn't try though to see the difference with the unaided eye. Daniel Fischer has been able to see the difference, you can read
his account and viewing tips here
http://earthsky.org/space/can-you-discern-supermoons-large-size-with-the-eye-an-observer-says-yes
Photographing them can be more rewarding. You can see images of perigee Moon and apogee Moon pairs from 21 Jan 2019 here and 10 August 2014 here.Tips for photographing them are here.
Apogee actually occurs at 5:17 ACDST on the 31st. For WA, where Full Moon occurs on the 31st at 23:00 AWST their "mini Moon" occurs at the same time as the blue moon (the second full Moon in a month). Every one else has to wait until the end of November for their blue Moon (time zones).
Although the Moon will not be technically full until late evening 31st/early morning 1st, you could get up at 1 am (AWST) or 4 am AEDST and image the moon when it is at its smallest, 29'35.17", but by the time of the official full Moon it is still only 29'43/93" compared to the 33'52.78" of the March 8th perigee Moon.
Labels: apogee, astrophotography, Moon
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