The year 2016 will end with three Super Moon

This phenomenon occurs occasionally but now it will take many years to re-produce

Artificial lighting has changed our way of life. Today humanity has abandoned the night and live in what we might call as a continuous vigil. Our society has eliminated the night, and with it the show that our ancestors have lived since our arrival on the planet over 100,000 years ago. So it’s no wonder that our language has so many references to heaven, but today literally ignore it as if we lived locked in a cave, but the cave is making of light.

The Moon and the Sun preside over our sky and our references. Although the first to be more variable in both the movement and its appearance has generated more fascination. The Moon is coquettish, illuminates the darkness; and unlike the Sun, he can look face to face creating a hypnotic effect who stares at the long. At other times these moons unusual so great would be seen and commented, but are now just a simple press note. In the era of space travel we have completely forgotten the sky and what given us its study, interpretation and fascination.

Harvest Moon

What is a Super Moon? For a very large moon. Obviously the Moon hasn’t grown but we see more and this is where we have to distinguish between the actual angular size and apparent size. Without objective tools of measuring size, our brain normally assigns a size with comparison, being very efficient with nearby objects but very awkward for remote, this is normal because as more far less information, and because the dangers and opportunities are nearby; so evolution give us the precision in a few steps.

Our eyes see angular distances that our brain becomes linear. That is the reason because objects are smaller as we move away from them, but their size doesn’t diminish with increasing distance but it does the angle that we see it. Moreover there is no way of knowing the distance to an object just by looking, but our brains estimated distances How does? Just doing the reverse of the above operation: you know that size has the object and estimates the distance so small that sees it. Logically from the estimated distances the size of unknown objects, which are precisely those that interest is also assigned (especially if it’s a predator and you want to eat). This is completely automatic and transparent to our conscious.

But when we talk about the moon, sun and stars the matter is very different because we have no reference. In this sense the size of the Moon is just something apparent. Everyone have in mind those huge moons (or Sun) in the African’s plateau or rising the shapes of mountains; however if this Moon is putted little more over the horizon seems it smaller than when it was just in horizon, have both the same size in photo. This is a psychological effect due in one way the result of psychological belief that the sky is closer than the horizon and another side effect vanishing point (see illustration). Therefore in summer we have the moon a low angle with respect to the horizon, it seems that full moons are larger than in winter.

False size due Horizon and vanish point

Although the Super Moon is something more because here there is a real increase in angular size (2016 Ends with Three Supermoons (Nasa)). The Moon does not orbit in a circle but does so in an ellipse with the earth in a focus (Kepler's second law). Besides the plane of the orbit it does not have a fixed orientation relative to the Sun which thing implies that the full moon does not usually coincide with specific points of the orbits and less always coincide with the point that we are interested in Perigee (closest point to earth lunar orbit). It difficult does not mean impossible and during the months of October November and December will match the full moon with perigee, and the difference with most distances we see the full moon is large enough to observe the difference.

It would be because of our streets’ light clogged the sky, because our everyday worries don’t let to raise our heads, or simply television entertaining more; This will happen completely unnoticed. Maybe we don’t follow the moon’s cycles, but nevertheless it’s still lighting the night. Although our technology may seem to have done useless, it must remember that not long time ago was the only light that illuminated the darkness of the night, and when turn off our light it will continue lighting.