As I’m sure you’ve all heard, on Saturday night the human race was witness to a supermoon. The last time we all had an extreme supermoon was 18 years ago. When I was 10. Probably looking at the supermoon through my best friend’s dad’s telescope. Times have changed, I tell you.

As an aside, this post is very fun for me to write, because supermoon is incredibly fun to say (and when I proofread, I read out loud to make sure my writing sounds like me). Supermoon. Supermoon. It just rolls of your tounge. Supermoon. The term “supermoon” was coined in 1979, ahh the swinging 70s, with their ever-so-scientific terms.

So anyway, back to business.

Fact 1: Supermoons are also called perigee-syzygy. This looks like it would be equally as fun to say if I had any idea how to pronounce it. “Pear-e-ji si-zi-ji”? “Pear-e-gee si-zi-gee”? “Pear-e-gee si-zi-ji”? Who knows? If you do know, please leave me comment, I will owe you a pronunciation one day.

Fact 2: Supermoons occur when the moon happens to be a full moon on the same day that the moon has a super close approach to earth. The moon’s distance from the earth is always changing, sometimes its closer (perigee) and sometimes its farther (apogee); but it is some kind of super coincidence when it is super close and it is super full. The combo = supermoon. I wonder what we would call it is we had three moons and each happened to be in supermoon mode on the same day… tri-supermoon? Wowzer-super-doopermoon? Who knows?

Fact 2: Supermoons appear to be bigger (14% or so) and brighter (30% or so) than regular moons. This is funny, because the supermoon is the regular moon. Just super.

Fact 3: Lots of people try to equate the supermoon with natural disasters; however, there is absolutely no link between the two. Read the ever authoritative wikipedia entry to find out why that theory is bunk. It’s so bunk it’s crazy.

Query: If there is a supermoon, is there a supermoon party in Thailand? And if so, how would a supermoon party differ from a regular full moon party? Could the revellers even distinguish between a full moon and a supermoon?

Anyway, at 7:49 on Saturday night I decided I better check to see what time supermoon was rising, and it was my lucky day… supermoon was coming at 7:52. Nice timing Al. Unfortunately, we were picking up a pizza for dinner (yes, we do that sometimes) and I was unable to see the horizon from where I was.

I was, however, able to get a sweet pic down The Esplanade at 7:52 on March 19th.  Nice sky Toronto, way to go!

Our pizza was ready at about 7:55 and we rushed a few blocks home so I could try to catch at least some of supermoon before it was too high in the sky.  I went straight up to the 31st floor with the 50mm lens that was on my camera at the time. No superzoomed supermoon for me :(.

And… well… it was… ok. It was a little bigger… and a little brighter… but it just looked like a regular moon… Sure, it was a good moon… but “super”, I’m not sure.

Needless to say, I didn’t go back upstairs with a longer zoom lens and a tripod. And I’m not holding my breath for the next supermoon. But, if I happen to remember 3 minutes before moonrise, I’ll go check it out.

For some better pictures of supermoon in Toronto, check out blogto. And if you missed it, don’t worry. It really wasn’t that super.