The Hunter's Moon last week occured near perigee and was the largest appearing Full Moon during the period 2005 FEB through 2008 NOV. Below is a picture I took from Arlington Heights, Illinois of that Full Moon on 2007 OCT 25 at 17:46 CDT. That was 25 minutes after moonrise and 10 minutes before sunset.

Also in the picture are three airplanes and a flock of geese headed south for the winter.

It was taken with my Sony Cyber-shot DSC F717 at full 5x zoom, ISO 100, F/2.4 and 1/1000 sec. The original was cropped and then reduced to 52% of the linear dimensions.

In Chicago that evening WGN-TV weatherman Tom Skilling displayed the photo at the beginning of his 21:30 weathercast.


In addition, I’ve created a graphic that demonstrates the variations in the declinations, distances and angular diameters among the 15 Full Moons from 2007 APR 02 to 2008 MAY 20. It can be seen http://www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html

Full Moons (or any particular phases) go through a complete cycle of distances from Earth every 14 lunar (synodic) months or 1.13 years. The recent Full Moon on OCT 25/26 was near perigee and the closest of the current cycle. The next one in November will appear almost as big. The most extreme perigees coincide with Full Moons. The first and last Full Moons shown on the chart were near apogees.

The top portion of the chart shows the variation in declination of the Full Moons. To determine each Full Moon’s altitude at meridian transit for your location, add the declination (south is negative) to your co-latitude (90° - latitude). This variation goes through an annual cycle than is opposite to that of the Sun: The Full Moon is higher in winter and lower in summer. Additionally, there is an 18.6-year cycle in which the amplitude of the declinations varies: most extreme in 2006 and least in 2015.

Across the lower center of the chart is shown the Earth and Moon in proper scale with the distances noted in thousands of kilometers (Mm or megameters).

At the bottom of the chart is shown the differing angular sizes of the Moon resulting from the changes in distance.


Full Hunter's Moon on 2007 OCT 25 at 17:46 CDT from Arlington Heights, IL

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Curt Renz - "Centaur"
For monthly astronomical calendar visit:
www.CurtRenz.com/astronomical.html

Very poster like, Great shot Curt.

Great detail with the planes and geese!