January 03, 2019
Perihelion and the Coming Super Blood Moon
Timothy Birdnow
Happy Perihelion Day! Today marks the Earth's closest approach to the Sun and it is cause for celebration! Actually, we hit perihelion at 12:19 a.m. so the event is passed, but I was still up and in fact enjoyed a cocktail in celebration (well, actually, I didn't realize it was that early so everything I said in that last line is as solid a news account as anything from CNN.)
Many people may find it surprising that Earth's closest approach to the Sun is in the dead of winter. The seasons are caused by the 23* tilt in the Earth's axis, (obliquity) not distance from the Sun. But it does have an impact, insofar as summers are hotter and winters colder in the southern hemisphere than in the northern. But the real determinant is the angle at which sunlight hits the surface.
So let's all celebrate the closest approach to the Sun today!
In other such news, we have a Super Blood Moon coming January 21st.
According to Fox News:
End excerpt.
We are also going to enjoy a "wolf moon" or a January full moon, and a total lunar eclipse on January 20 at 11:40 p.m.
So we have a lot of interesting astronomical events occurring this month.
"These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us.â€
(King Lear, act 1, scene 2)
(King Lear, act 1, scene 2)
Happy Perihelion Day! Today marks the Earth's closest approach to the Sun and it is cause for celebration! Actually, we hit perihelion at 12:19 a.m. so the event is passed, but I was still up and in fact enjoyed a cocktail in celebration (well, actually, I didn't realize it was that early so everything I said in that last line is as solid a news account as anything from CNN.)
Many people may find it surprising that Earth's closest approach to the Sun is in the dead of winter. The seasons are caused by the 23* tilt in the Earth's axis, (obliquity) not distance from the Sun. But it does have an impact, insofar as summers are hotter and winters colder in the southern hemisphere than in the northern. But the real determinant is the angle at which sunlight hits the surface.
So let's all celebrate the closest approach to the Sun today!
In other such news, we have a Super Blood Moon coming January 21st.
According to Fox News:
A supermoon is a new or full moon that appears closer than usual because it’s the closest distance the moon gets to Earth during its orbit, known as "perigee" located about 363,000 kilometers from Earth, NASA says.
Supermoons typically appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the average moon seen in the sky each night, Dr. Noah Petro, a research scientist from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, previously told Fox News. However, it's hard to really spot the difference with the naked eye.
"That's not enough to notice unless you're a very careful moon-watcher," Sky & Telescope magazine senior editor Alan MacRobert told Space.com in 2016.
The term "blood" stems from the rusty brownish-red color the Moon turns during a total lunar eclipse.
"That's because some of the sunlight going through Earth's atmosphere is bent around the edge of our planet and falls onto the moon's surface. Earth's air also scatters more shorter-wavelength light (in colors such as green or blue); what's left is the longer-wavelength, redder end of the spectrum," Space.com states on its website.
Supermoons typically appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the average moon seen in the sky each night, Dr. Noah Petro, a research scientist from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, previously told Fox News. However, it's hard to really spot the difference with the naked eye.
"That's not enough to notice unless you're a very careful moon-watcher," Sky & Telescope magazine senior editor Alan MacRobert told Space.com in 2016.
The term "blood" stems from the rusty brownish-red color the Moon turns during a total lunar eclipse.
"That's because some of the sunlight going through Earth's atmosphere is bent around the edge of our planet and falls onto the moon's surface. Earth's air also scatters more shorter-wavelength light (in colors such as green or blue); what's left is the longer-wavelength, redder end of the spectrum," Space.com states on its website.
End excerpt.
We are also going to enjoy a "wolf moon" or a January full moon, and a total lunar eclipse on January 20 at 11:40 p.m.
So we have a lot of interesting astronomical events occurring this month.
"The bay-trees in our country are all withered,
And meteors fright the fixèd stars of heaven.
The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth,
And lean-looked prophets whisper fearful change.
Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap;
The one in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other to enjoy by rage and war.
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.â€
(Richard II, act 2, scene 4)
And meteors fright the fixèd stars of heaven.
The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth,
And lean-looked prophets whisper fearful change.
Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap;
The one in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other to enjoy by rage and war.
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.â€
(Richard II, act 2, scene 4)
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:32 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 486 words, total size 3 kb.
24kb generated in CPU 0.0721, elapsed 0.2418 seconds.
35 queries taking 0.2293 seconds, 182 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
35 queries taking 0.2293 seconds, 182 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
