Friday, December 12, 2008

The Big Bright Full Moon at its Closest Perigee


So tonight the big bright full moon is at its closest perigee of 2008. That means it is the closest to earth that it has been this year.


"Although a full moon happens every month, the one that rises [tonight] will appear about 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than the other full moons seen so far this year."
It is also closer to the earth tonight than it has been for the past 15 years. If you wait another 8 years it will get close again.


I went out into the cold backyard with the pooch and tried out my new camera. There are 1.9 million more features on it compared with my old camera, and honestly I couldn't figure out how to adjust the focus - go figure. Well, I took a few shots and now it is too late to wander around in the backyard, so I have to be satisfied with the ones I took.


It was back in February of this year that I took photographs of a lunar eclipse through a pair of binoculars with my old digital camera.


They were way better.


The good news is that I have the manual for this camera.


I am going to read and read and read until I get it right.

Cheers,

Mungo

6 Bahs!:

scoutinlife said...

It was a beautiful night here as the moonlight reflected off the snow the simple things in life!

Pablo said...

I'm pleased you got some shots. The UK was too cloudy to get any.

Kiggavik said...

One of the keys to exposure for pictures of the moon is to remember it is a rock in bright sunlight. If you are using manual exposure settings the "sunny sixteen" rule works. At f16 the shutter speed should be equal to your ISO or film speed.

Of course if you're photographing other objects as well (landscape) that throws everything off, because you've combined a very bright object with dark objects.

threecollie said...

Very lovely photos. It was especially pretty at dawn here yesterday, but I had to hurry to work...no time for photos.

scoutinlife said...

It was a beautiful night here as the moonlight reflected off the snow the simple things in life!

Kiggavik said...

One of the keys to exposure for pictures of the moon is to remember it is a rock in bright sunlight. If you are using manual exposure settings the "sunny sixteen" rule works. At f16 the shutter speed should be equal to your ISO or film speed.

Of course if you're photographing other objects as well (landscape) that throws everything off, because you've combined a very bright object with dark objects.

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