Is it just me, or is the moon very bright?

Originally posted by Shadow_Lord
April has a perigee during the new moon, and an apogee during the full moon. So April's full moon will not be "as bright" as March's full moon.

Well then I guess this will be a pretty good test. Everyone that felt the moon was abnormally bright, keep watching the moon for the month of april and let us know if it's as bright as it was in march

Well seeing as how the 21st was the full moon.....And the 20th was the 1st day of spring....

...well, there's your answer....

[edit on 3/24/2008 by Choronzon]

Here's an image that shows how the size of the moon differs at apogee and perigee:



[edit on 24-3-2008 by nataylor]

[edit on 24-3-2008 by nataylor]

reply to post by ArMaP


I never said just because 'I' see it that way, then IT IS TRUE. There are many people who say it and notice it, MANY, not just me. You and Kingsnake(you say) makes 2 against approx. 10 on this post? You lose here, sorry. Oh yeah, I also have used other ways of viewing the moon over the years. I was always fascinated in the moon and night sky, just loved it. I KNOW something 'just ain't right' now and so do many other admirers of the night sky. When people from different places all over the world are saying something isn't right , it is probably true. I'm sure some of them have viewed with telescopes, binoculars, also. We are just concerned and curious( I am anyway). Not trying to start a fight, just worried and I kinda miss the 'old view', too. I think our govt is covering up something, but havn't a clue to why or what. Theres nothing wrong with wanting to find out whats going on up there, is it??

Originally posted by imysbbad

I never said just because 'I' see it that way, then IT IS TRUE.

No, neither did I said that you said it, right?

There are many people who say it and notice it, MANY, not just me. You and Kingsnake(you say) makes 2 against approx. 10 on this post? You lose here, sorry.

Even if it was 100 to 1 it did not prove anything else than 100 people from different places saw one thing and one person from a different place saw a different thing. And it is not me who says that Kingsnake didn't saw the Moon different from other occasions, Kingsnake said it in this post, that it was bright but not abnormally bright, and that is the same thing I say.

And this is not an election for someone to loose or win.

When people from different places all over the world are saying something isn't right , it is probably true. I'm sure some of them have viewed with telescopes, binoculars, also.

Yes, but read what I said, that does not prove that what is wrong is the Moon, for that to happen the Moon should look abnormally bright to everybody, everywhere, not almost all people from almost all places.

Theres nothing wrong with wanting to find out whats going on up there, is it??

Right, but it wasn't me who said "This case is closed", right?

Edited to add: re-read my previous post and you will see that I am not saying that all is normal, the only difference between my opinion and those of the other "approx. 10" is that I think that what is making the Moon look different is not the Moon itself but some conditions on Earth, and that we should try to know what it is.

[edit on 25/3/2008 by ArMaP]

reply to post by ArMaP

I think that what is making the Moon look different is not the Moon itself but some conditions on Earth, and that we should try to know what it is.

Armap, I thought it was already established that it would most likely be the Sun if anything, as the Moons light is ultimately just reflecting the Sun's light. So shouldn't we be staring into the sun?

Also, if it was the conditions on Earth, would those conditions apply to all the members that said it looked abnormally bright, considering the geographical spread?

Originally posted by Lucid Lunacy
Armap, I thought it was already established that it would most likely be the Sun if anything, as the Moons light is ultimately just reflecting the Sun's light. So shouldn't we be staring into the sun?

That is one of the possibilities, but as far as being established I have my doubts, that I will explain bellow.

Also, if it was the conditions on Earth, would those conditions apply to all the members that said it looked abnormally bright, considering the geographical spread?

It could apply if the same conditions happened on those different locations, but the fact that not all people see it different, and that at least two of those are from the same place, Portugal, makes me think that there is something on Earth that is making this difference in the way the Moon looks.

As I said in a previous post, it could also be that there is something on Earth that is making it look normal in Portugal, but then we should have two mysteries to solve, what makes the Moon look different and why does it not look different in Portugal.

If the Moon looks normal in Portugal because it is normal, then we have only one mystery to solve, why does it look abnormally bright in some places.

Joining the two cases above, we can see that both have a common mystery, what is affecting the way the Moon looks (making brighter in one case and normal in the other), so I think that if we can find if there is something on Earth affecting the way the Moon looks we can pass to phase two, if the affected area is Portugal and the result the dimming of the abnormally bright Moon, what is making it brighter.

PS: I also think that if this was a global event somebody else should have noticed it, there must be thousands of people looking at the Moon through specialised equipment, some with light measuring equipment, that would notice it and would be able to measure it.

My previous post explains a global change in brightness, which would be global. But there are some settings on Earth that can affect brightness to a degree. Weather is a simple one. There can be slight clouds that may affect brightness. Light pollution, smog, etc. Even northern and southern position will make a difference.

The main part here is people do see things different even standing side by side. Then it comes down to viewers opinion on how bright it is. I know here, it has been cloudy for so long that now that I can see the full moon with snow on the ground, it seems bright; but I know it's not. I know the snow if reflecting moonlight, I know it's very clear out. But I can't give any weather info for different spots on Earth.

A great example is when I am out with astronomy students watching a meteor shower, when most of them see the same meteor streak. How many of them will say how bright it was, while others are like "eh, it was ok." They have that opinion on the meteor that differ from the person standing right next to them.

We measure the magnitude of the moon's brightness on so many places on Earth and in orbit. Earth based equipment that is NOT owned by NASA or any government body, but by both amature and professional astronomers. If there really was a difference that was not expected those independent people would be announcing it all over the place with the scientific data to back it up.

I saw this posted too, so I wanted to comment on it. The Moon does not give off any light at all. We see the Moon's "light" because of 2 things. First is the Sun. It reflects off the surface of the Moon and that is what we see. The second is called Earthshine. This can be seen easily with a very new or old Moon phase. The Sun's light reflecting off the Earth, then reflects off the Moon. If you look at the Moon you can clearly see the first or last quarter, but can see the rest of the Moon faintly.

reply to post by ArMaP


When I said case closed, it was meant that when anyone mentions the moon and something wrong with it, debunks always make it sound like we are crazy, we aren't really seeing what we say we are seeing.... making it seem like we are nutty. Everywhere I see a discussion about 'the moon', it is people asking and wondering what is wrong and are worried about it really. They don't deserve to be ridiculed. It just might make other future observers back off and not report what they see?? If I made it seem like I'm accusing you , I didn't mean to ( I know, I replied to you). I'm tired of people literally saying that "I couldn't of seen that", implying that my vision isn't right or I must be one of those 'nutcases' out there... I'm not a scientist or an expert, but I do know that the moon does not look the same as it use to . It's been at least a year that I have took notice. Last night was a good example . It was abnormal in shape (to me) and I can see an outline or it makes it look like a double-moon, one being slightly larger than the other. Yes it does sound crazy. All the more reason to want to know what's wrong. We don't want to hear we aren't really seeing the moon that way or that we are wrong. We just want someone who can, try to figure it out. Didn't mean to rattle your cage, but I reread my post and I did sound a little 'cocky' didn't I ? I'll try to control my future outbursts.

Originally posted by Shadow_Lord
The second is called Earthshine. This can be seen easily with a very new or old Moon phase. The Sun's light reflecting off the Earth, then reflects off the Moon. If you look at the Moon you can clearly see the first or last quarter, but can see the rest of the Moon faintly.

Like this, right?



PS: this photo was taken on 2007:04:21 at 22:26:45. It was reduced to 20% to post.

Originally posted by imysbbad
Didn't mean to rattle your cage, but I reread my post and I did sound a little 'cocky' didn't I ?

Yes, you did.

That is why I usually re-read my posts before posting, sometimes I do a complete re-write of the post and sometimes I think that is not worth answer and cancel my post.

reply to post by ArMaP


Exactly! Always a cool thing to see.

Not only has the moon been unusually bright, but, the full moon seems to have lasted for about a week. Last week the moon was full, and the date for the full moon was May 20th, Tuesday. Has anyone else noticed this?

reply to post by Siren


May 17th I can guarantee that it was not a full Moon.



Original uncropped image with the Exif data here.

reply to post by ArMaP


I did further checking after my post. To the natural eye, it appears as though the moon was full for four days, May 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st.

tycho.usno.navy.mil...

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[edit on 24-5-2008 by Siren]

Greetings,

We live in the Caribbean, on a rock with a barely measurable amount of static air pollution. I routinely take photos of the moon and various other celestial objects (SST flyover, etc.) I've not noticed any degree of brightening to the moon, but very interested in others' perceptions.

I live in Miami Beach, FL. and I am certain the moon has been brighter lately. My parents and myself have been tracking the changes for a couple of months, and here in Miami we get fantastic views of the moon. About the Sun, it is algo brighter in Miami.