Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/11/10/how-to-see-the-extraordinary.html
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Please for the love of all that’s holy, stop promoting the BS supermoon stuff.
Please?!
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Hear, hear!
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How to see the extraordinary “supermoon” on Monday.
Step 1: go outside,
Step 2: open eyes,
Step 3: tilt head upwards.
(Optional: open eyes before going outside, so you don’t bump into a door or fall down the stairs.)
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A full moon is a full moon is a full moon. The human eye (brain) cannot distinguish a full moon this month from one that was 3 percent smaller last month. It will look IDENTICAL to any full moon you have seen over the last 100 years.
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^^^ Good advice!
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but this allows to see superstars!
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Forecast says cloudy in my corner of the world on Monday, so I’ll miss it like I miss most astronomical events.
Saying that, I saw a lovely crescent moon from my window a few nights ago on rare clear night. I meant to go out and catch it in a photo, but I hadn’t finished pottering about until it had set. Oh, well.
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On the one hand, yes the difference is minimal. On the other I’ll be out with the camera Mon., since that minuscule increase brightness/size may help, and even if it makes no difference, the hype’s a lovely reminder to go out and look at the sky. I don’t mind if the reminder’s mostly built on a false premise, since in terms of common misconceptions that one’s about as harmless as there is. Hopefully it’ll be a bit cloudy since the moon+cloud shots are my faves to try and even a minuscule bit of extra brightness would help.
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What’s wrong with looking at the moon, whether you can actually see it better or not?
Gimme a break; there are very few constants left that I can depend on in this batshit insane world we live in. The moon is one of them.
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The moon is moving away from Earth. This will be the biggest you’ll ever get to see the moon again. The next supermoon will be smaller.
Best make the most of it.
And if you’re living on the wrong part of the planet when Earth gets dual-tidally locked with the moon, you might never see it again.
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What part of the Earth is that?
Can you provide links, please?
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Nothing’s wrong with looking at the moon, but I don’t see any benefit in pretending it’ll look “extraordinary” on Monday.
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Dunno. But you’ve got a few billion years before it (maybe) happens anyway.
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You mean like. . . Billy Joel and Barbra Streisand?
No thanks.
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The Moon’s very slowly drifting away, though it’s a few cm a year, so it will be far, far in the future before it’s meandered enough to noticeably change.
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On the other end of that, does it actually hurt anything?
Does “pretending” cause any negative consequences, for anyone?
No?
Then why be a downer, needlessly; we already have plenty of other detrimental shit to be down on, especially now.
Personally, I’m gonna try to enjoy every good thing that comes my way, as much as I can, while I still can.
Nothing lasts forever; so enjoy it while it lasts.
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I’m totally comfortable with harmless misconceptions that remind us to do things we’ll enjoy. Being right is overrated, and I have a bad habit of forgetting I like going outside, despite the outside being full of so many amazing things I love getting to see.
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