One of the reasons we camp is to get closer to nature. But in this instance, “nature” just happened to be getting closer to us. And even though it was a couple hundred thousand miles away, it was still quite spectacular.
Every once in a while, the wonders of the universe remind us that we inhabit a pretty special corner of the Milky Way. Recently we experienced a so-called “SUPERMOON,” which is not a pants-dropping superhero, but rather a condition that exists when the moon is unusually close to the earth.
Here’s the way SUPERMOON looked from our neck of the woods.
When this photo was taken, the moon was a mere 221,565 miles away from earth. In other words, if you were to stack enough unsold Taylor Hicks CDs on top of one another to extend from the earth to the moon…well, you’d need a lot fewer CDs. (But this would be a rather silly exercise, and I predict you would encounter serious logistical problems once you exit the earth’s atmosphere.)
Scientists also claim that SUPERMOON was 15% larger and 20% brighter than the norm. Although I have no way to confirm these statistics, I nevertheless believe them to be correct — mainly because we were able to snag a number of photos in which the moon does not resemble a frosted incandescent lightbulb.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed SUPERMOON, wherever on planet earth you may reside. It was proof that sometimes “the best show on earth” is floating in the sky above.