Monday 21 November 2016

Guest Post: Super Moon

On November 14, the moon was closer to the earth than it has been for almost 70 years. This closeness coincided with a full moon, an occurrence called a perigee-syzygy, or, to make it easier to remember, type and pronounce, a supermoon. (The opposite is an apogee-syzygy, or "micromoon".)

Some of you, dear fellow bloggers, were able to observe that supermoon from your homes. Not me; it was covered by a dense veil of clouds. But a friend of mine sent me an email with a photo of the supermoon as seen from Ripon's market square, and I have his permission to use the photo and what he wrote.

So, here is a mini guest post from George Pickles, Ripon's Hornblower until 2015:

Like most of the world we have been experiencing the Super Moon, but unfortunately here in England with our usual cloudy weather at this time of year, there was very little chance of getting a good view. However, with a little patience and a lot of good luck I managed to get this picture. 
 
 
A break in the clouds saw the super moon light up the Ripon Square so brilliantly like I have never seen before. I submitted the photo to the local papers and it was published today (on the 18th).

Also, as a symbol of 'remembrance and unity' we had a soccer match between the British Army and the German Army. It was very well supported and was nice to see. You will be pleased to learn that the final score was Germany 2 goals to Britain I goal.
 
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I must say I liked the image of the Super Moon shining down on Ripon just as much as the idea of a friendly soccer match between British and German soldiers. Much better to have a bit of sporty competition on a football ground than on a blood-stained battlefield, isn't it! All the more it makes me sad when some "fans" abuse football and turn stadiums and surrounding city centres into real battlefields again.

Anyway - thank you, George, for letting me and my blog readers see the supermoon! Our next chance to see one is a few years off yet - on November 25, 2034 (when I will be 66 years old.

13 comments:

  1. I tried to take photos of the supermoon but phone cameras just aren't made for decent night photos. It was a beautiful moon, though! Sorry you missed it!

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    1. Never mind - I'll be looking forward to the one in 2034 :-)

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  2. It's hard to think of you being sixty six. I strongly suspect that I will be dead long before the next supermoon arrives.

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    1. When I was younger, it was hard to imagine myself being anything above 30, and now I'm less than 1 1/2 years away of being 50!

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  3. Nice that the photo was published in the paper! It's not easy to take a photo of the moon, that is a good one.
    Thank you, Mr. Pickles!

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    1. I've tried my hand at "moony" pictures a few times, too, and know how difficult it is!

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  4. We were able to see the supermoon on the day it happened! Usually we are very overcast at this time of the year, but we were just lucky this time...Thank you, guest blogger. It was a joy to see your photo of the super moon seen in Ripon!

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  5. Ah, I did not mean supermoon to be one word like that! I really need to proof read!

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    1. When I did a bit of research to find out when the next supermoon would be visible, I found that it is always spelled "supermoon" (in one word) on wikipedia. But I also like super moon :-)

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  6. i saw this lovely moon while standing in my front yard .sorry that you missed it but glad that your friend shared photo with you

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    1. Nice to know you saw it from your own yard! I hope you and your family are all well.

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  7. The super moon was covered by clouds here, too!

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    1. My uncle, who also lives in the south of Germany, saw it well - I'll post a photo of that soon!

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