Did you get a chance to see last night’s “super Moon”? Weather permitting, it put on a nice show — especially as it rose above the horizon! The photo above was taken at about 9:00 p.m. central time from Dallas, TX. It was a bit hazy in the sky but the Moon had a yellow glow still, which soon faded to brilliant white as it rose higher.

You know, like every full Moon, basically.

But even though the super Moon is really just a full Moon that’s at perigee — the closest point in its orbit around Earth — it actually IS a little brighter in the sky. Up to 30% brighter, in fact, and even though that’s hard to measure with your eyes (it’s not like there’s a “regular” Moon next to it for comparison) there is a sense of something a little more intense about it.

I guess 31,000 miles does make a difference!

Last night was Cinco de Mayo as well and as a result there were also about 30% more people around town, hitting the bars to imbibe copious amounts of tequila and Dos Equis in celebration of what they probably thought has something to do with Mexican independence day (even though it doesn’t.) Taking a photo like this from the sidewalk was, therefore, a bit trickier than usual because of all the extra car headlights that tended to ruin shots with their glare. Add to that and my first round of photos wasn’t kept by my camera’s SD card and I had to go out for a second round of shooting, and in the interim a thicker layer of hazy clouds had moved in. But I think it came out all right. (It’ll have to do… the next super moon won’t be until November 14, 2016!)

Photo © Jason Major.