Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Mooned~Take a peek @ it tonignt...now.
Old 12-12-2008, 05:42 PM   #1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
mickeyd's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: South Texas~29N/98W Just West of Woman Hollering Creek
Posts: 6,671
Mooned~Take a peek @ it tonignt...now.



If the full moon tonight looks unusually large, it is not your imagination – it is the biggest and brightest full moon to be seen for 15 years.

Look up tonight for a spectacular treat in the sky - Times Online
__________________
Part-Owner of Texas

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx

In dire need of: faster horses, younger woman, older whiskey, more money.
mickeyd is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 12-12-2008, 05:45 PM   #2
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
bbbamI's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Collin County, TX
Posts: 9,294
Ahhh, yes...I sat on my patio earlier and gazed at it...so lovely.

The next closest encounter with a full moon this large will not be until November 14, 2016.

That date is my birthday...I'll be 59 years old....
__________________
There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
bbbamI is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2008, 05:53 PM   #3
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,764
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbbamI View Post
Ahhh, yes...I sat on my patio earlier and gazed at it...so lovely.

The next closest encounter with a full moon this large will not be until November 14, 2016.

That date is my birthday...I'll be 59 years old....
Bah kids..

Doubt if Ill still be breathing..

Its just getting dark here.
Notmuchlonger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2008, 06:05 PM   #4
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
bbbamI's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Collin County, TX
Posts: 9,294
Quote:
Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger View Post
Doubt if Ill still be breathing..
Oh...sorry...I apologize...didn't mean to offend anyone.
__________________
There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
bbbamI is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2008, 06:06 PM   #5
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,764
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbbamI View Post
Oh...sorry...I apologize...didn't mean to offend anyone.
That pussycat avatar is staring at me.
Notmuchlonger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2008, 07:18 PM   #6
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
freebird5825's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: East Nowhere, 43N Latitude, NY
Posts: 9,037
we are cloud covered here and it is 9:15 PM, so i missed it.

this is no bull, and i didn't realize it until the i looked at the article date...

today would have been my 20th anniversary of being hired into federal civil service. i just turned 50 in September. Fellows feds will recognize this combo as the age/service yrs for eligibility for a FERS early out retirement.
this was the holy grail that i decided to forego, when i FIREd on April 1, 2007 because enough was enough was enough. plus the "early out" was always a political thing to be granted or denied where i w*rked.

so it is very fitting that a larger than normal MOON should appear on this date of all dates.
please feel free to virtually join me in chucking a moon in honor of the occasion.
__________________
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney
freebird5825 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2008, 07:27 PM   #7
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
lazygood4nothinbum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,895
had i known maybe i would have gone down to the beach where often is a full moon drum ceremony complete with bellie & fire dancers. been a few times. pretty fun. little chilly tonight; brrrr, it's dipped down to 61 degrees. gorgeous, clear night though. maybe will take a little walk. that's some beautiful full moon. thanx for the, um, heads up.

trivia question: why does the moon look larger at the horizon?

because the brain is fooled by thinking that anything overhead must be farther away than anything that is in front on you. so as the moon rises, it appears to get smaller than when it is on the horizon. cool huh?
__________________
"off with their heads"~~dr. joseph-ignace guillotin

"life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901
lazygood4nothinbum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2008, 07:33 PM   #8
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
bbbamI's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Collin County, TX
Posts: 9,294
Quote:
Originally Posted by freebird5825 View Post
please feel free to virtually join me in chucking a moon in honor of the occasion.
I just honored your request in the physical manner...now I have to put my cat's eyes back in their heads!
__________________
There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
bbbamI is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2008, 07:42 PM   #9
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
freebird5825's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: East Nowhere, 43N Latitude, NY
Posts: 9,037
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbbamI View Post
I just honored your request in the physical manner...now I have to put my cat's eyes back in their heads!
i am honored by your virtual...um...mooniness ?
__________________
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney
freebird5825 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2008, 06:00 AM   #10
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: S.W. Minnesota
Posts: 134
Went walking at 5am to get my moon tan. Enough snow around here to make it seem like day. Got within 50 yd. of 4 deer. Made my day, and the sun's not even up!

Blizzard tomorrow. (Probably will have to use the dang treadmill.)
waltwill8 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2008, 06:10 AM   #11
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
donheff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 11,317
Quote:
Originally Posted by mickeyd View Post

If the full moon tonight looks unusually large, it is not your imagination – it is the biggest and brightest full moon to be seen for 15 years.

Look up tonight for a spectacular treat in the sky - Times Online
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum View Post

trivia question: why does the moon look larger at the horizon?
It is an illusion (Google "moon illusion"). There are a lot of theories (e.g. atmospheric effects, nearness to the horizon causing apparent largeness) but if you measure the actual width (e.g. use an outstretched finger) it will be .5 degrees - just looks bigger.

By the way, this is an inopportune time for a full moon. The Geminid meteor shower is tonight and the moon will rise right in the middle of their origin.
__________________
Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre -- Albert Camus
donheff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2008, 10:21 AM   #12
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
TromboneAl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
Quote:
because the brain is fooled by thinking that anything overhead must be farther away than anything that is in front on you. so as the moon rises, it appears to get smaller than when it is on the horizon. cool huh?
That's the theory I like also. If you ask someone how far away the sky seems, straight up, they say about a mile or two. Ask them how far away the horizon seems, and they'll answer with a larger distance.
__________________
Al
TromboneAl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2008, 10:51 AM   #13
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
mickeyd's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: South Texas~29N/98W Just West of Woman Hollering Creek
Posts: 6,671
Quote:
It is an illusion (Google "moon illusion").
All this discussion about the size of the moon may have some truth to it. I recall viewing the moon about 6PM on the horizon last night and it looked really big to me (of course I was influenced by the article above). I went outside again about 9PM and the moon, now overhead, appeared to be smaller than 3 hours earlier. I assumed that it had moved away from the earth in 3 hours, thus appearing smaller. It never occurred to me that it could be an illusion. I need to brush up on my astrophysics I guess.

Armed with this theory, I will make sure to test it in 2016.
__________________
Part-Owner of Texas

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx

In dire need of: faster horses, younger woman, older whiskey, more money.
mickeyd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2008, 11:41 AM   #14
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
lazygood4nothinbum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,895
i used to think it looked larger at the horizon because there i had local reference points, trees and buildings and the like.

but i think this theory of relativity goes that looking out to the horizon is actually a shorter distance than looking up to the sky because when the brain sees the sky it sees stars which are very far away. so the moon looks closer (or bigger) at the horizon and farther away (or smaller) up above.

the theory i love about the moon is how people think a full moon affects tides moreso than a half moon because the moon is full as if it has more mass & gravitational pull than a half moon. hmmm, maybe it is the light after all. that would explain a lighted bulb's pull on moths.
__________________
"off with their heads"~~dr. joseph-ignace guillotin

"life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901
lazygood4nothinbum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2008, 01:27 PM   #15
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Rustward's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,684
Saw it last night. It was remarkable.
Full moon and usually the following two or three moonrises are nice to see.
Rustward is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2008, 06:44 PM   #16
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
harley's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: No fixed abode
Posts: 8,764
We missed the really big one, due to the 3 inches of rain that fell in 24 hours. However, it's cleared up now and still really beautiful. We have too much ambient light to be able to see much of the Geminids anyway.
__________________
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Anonymous (not Will Rogers or Sam Clemens)
DW and I - FIREd at 50 (7/06), living off assets
harley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2008, 09:33 AM   #17
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
TromboneAl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
Anyone know how much bigger it is than it's average size (e.g. 3%). I'm guessing that this is part media hype and I'm too lazy to search.
__________________
Al
TromboneAl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2008, 10:28 AM   #18
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Rustward's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,684
Third paragraph:
"The unusual feature of tonight is that the perigee also coincides with a full moon, which will make it appear 14 per cent bigger and some 30 per cent brighter than most full moons this year – so long as the clouds hold off from blocking the view. "

I noticed it without being told about it. Didn't see this thread or media coverage until Saturday morning.
Rustward is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2008, 01:00 PM   #19
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
TromboneAl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
That is significant. I noticed it when I woke up and was wondering if someone had their lights on. But we haven't had any clear skies since I read about this.
__________________
Al
TromboneAl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2008, 02:02 PM   #20
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
lazygood4nothinbum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,895
if the moon moves tides, with it this close, would now be a good time to weigh myself?
__________________
"off with their heads"~~dr. joseph-ignace guillotin

"life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901
lazygood4nothinbum is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Sneak Peek at Older America Eagle43 Other topics 1 05-22-2005 07:00 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 10:30 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.