Sunday, May 13, 2012

Perigee-Syzygy

This image is of the so-called ‘Supermoon’ as viewed from Edmonton, Alberta. It was made *very* early on the morning of May 6, 2012.

A Supermoon occurs when a full moon coincides with when the moon is at it’s the closest point to earth. Apparently in the scientific and astronomical community, the term perigee-syzygy is preferred. Definitely a case of the scientific term being way cooler than the common term.

Supermoon!

Just before heading out to make this image I had a conversation with a friend about the rate at which the moon moves through the frame when using a telephoto lens. That inspired me to create the time lapse video below. I took 29 images at a focal length of 300mm (450mm at a 35mm equivalent). The delay between the images was 5 seconds, so the total length of time over which the video was shot is 2 minutes 20 seconds. As can be seen in the video, the moon moved a surprising (to me anyway) distance through the frame in that time. The images were not cropped.