Astronomy Israel: Did You See the Supermoon?

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Did You See the Supermoon?

Last night's Supermoon did not disappoint. We went out to the Machtesh overlook around 7:30PM, a bit later than I had wanted to be there, but there was the full moon hanging low in the sky, having risen about an hour earlier, big and bright. There were young students sitting on the floor of the Bird's Nest Lookout singing Shalos Seudos songs, while behind us the boys from the high school yeshiva were singing their Shalos Seudos songs. A few tourists stood at the edge with us watching the moon rise. There was still sunset light in the west and the combination of it and the full moon gave the carter a glorious glow, especially the distant rim where Shein Ramon jutted out from the edge. Venus was in the west and my wife noticed a bright star very close by, which turned out to be El Nath, the end of one of Taurus the Bull's horns, doing double duty as one of the stars of Auriga's pentagram.

Later that nigh, actually the morning of May 6th, I went outside around 4:00AM local IDST and found the moon hanging low near one of the tall trees in the park near our apartment. I couldn't resist taking this photo below. I hope you had a chance to enjoy it as much as Pam and I did.