Super lunar

Thanks to everyone who has purchased my "Free from the Sun" solar recipes, I was in a position to buy myself a present.

My little Kodak point and shoot basic camera, being over 6 years old, was giving up the ghost.  The focus was jumping all over the place as I tried to shoot a pic, and the battery would last for about 8 photo's before complaining that the battery was low and it needed recharging.

Canon SX510HS

So it was time to replace it.  RMan and I researched what was available on-line here and I (finally) made a decision.  I bought a Canon SX510HS.  What a stunning camera :)  It will enable me to take r-e-a-l-l-y close close-ups [even of plants :) ] - which the old Kodak couldn't manage - as well as zoom 30 times closer to the dam next time we have any feathered visitors :)

The initial impression of the camera is "what took me so long"?  Wow!  The pics it takes are crystal clear - and when it comes to taking bird life (and I've never been a birder or twitcher or whatever you call it) the clarity and detail is fantastic :)  So much so that I think I may start a "Birdlife seen in our valley" page on this blog :) (I just need to identify them with the help of "Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa" book before I post them though...)

It arrived just in time for my birthday - and the timing was absolutely perfect, because, not only could I snap some shots of the day, but also because on Sunday evening we experienced a supermoon in Southern Africa.

To quote from http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/special-moon-to-light-up-sa-1.1733140

"If you take a look at the moon tonight it will be at its fullest, brightest and closest to Earth this year.

 This phenomenon is known as a “supermoon”, when the moon appears to be 10 percent to 15 percent larger than usual.

The moon’s proximity to the Earth tonight will be a distance of 356 896km at perigee, the closest point, which will therefore make it the brightest and largest full moon of the year.

I took this pic of the supermoon
at 6.27 p.m. on Sunday evening using
an ISO-400 setting.  Just as well I didn't
wait for 8.08p.m. - the mist suddenly
rolled in and the moon was barely visible.

Also, the moon will be at its fullest at the same moment that it is closest to the Earth – something that will not happen again until 2034.

Nicola Loaring, outreach astronomer at the SA Astronomical Observatory, said that the average distance between the Earth and the moon was 384 400km.

However, because of the moon’s oval path of travel, the distance varied depending on where it was in orbit around the Earth.

At perigee, the moon was about 50 000km closer to the Earth than it was at its most distant point, she said.

“Full moons that occur when the moon is close to or at perigee are called supermoons and appear slightly larger or brighter than usual,” said Loaring.

“There has been one supermoon so far, in July, with another one expected in September. The supermoon will be visible from all over South Africa… and everyone should have a look at about 8.08pm local time because the moon will be at its closest point for the year.”

Logan Govender, a spokesman for the Durban centre of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, said that although supermoons occurred regularly this one was special.

August 2014 super moon

“There are full moons every month but this supermoon is special because it will be at its fullest at the exact moment it is closest to the Earth,” he said.

“This is very important and what makes this occurrence different. Sometimes there is a full moon before it rises. You can call this a super supermoon.”

He said this would affect the tides but that it had no superstitious bearing."

Now that made my birthday, which was already outstanding, even more special :)

Again - a very sincere thank you to everyone who made the camera purchase possible :)