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A day to remember when the moon is smiling at us

Aphrodite

Entry posted by Aphrodite ·

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I got a sms from my BFF whilst having a dinner that "Look at the moon. I'm smiling at you" I thought it was the sweetest thing she could ever say to me. So I said that to her. She called back and said she actually meant what she said. She wanted me to look at the moon. Alright, I will look at the moon but after my dinner of course.

Unfortunately, the sky was so cloudy where I live here in Koh Samui. I thought maybe it would be just our place, maybe we could drive around the island and see if there's any clearer spot. So my colleague and I drove for 1.5hrs around the island and saw nothing but some shining stars Frown I really REALLY feel so disappointed. Reading people's blogs/journals about this smiling moon makes me feel like I've missed out something GREAT. 

The reason why I wanted to see it so badly cos my friend told me that this is something that occurs in every 100 years. I dont think I'd live that long to see another one, unless there's a hot sexy vampire like Edward Cullen to suck on my neck hahaha anyway, that information was WRONG! I did some google and found out that you will be able to see it again in next 48 years hehe now thats I feel a bit better! Smile I really hope I'd still remember this in next 48 years lol I dont know if I'd still be alive by then!

So here's the story, if you've got time to read about it........

So wondering why the moon smile at you? Tonight you might have not notice the moon is smiling. Go out and look at the moon and you might see the moon smiling back at you. The smiling moon phenomenon happens every 48 years, so don’t miss it! “Astronomers say Venus and Jupiter and a crescent moon will form a smiley face tonight, with the planets forming the eyes and the moon forming the mouth. Venus and Jupiter have appeared side by side in the evening sky over the last week or so, but tonight will be the best night to see the “face” appear, astronomers say.”

smiley_1-december_2008_9-pm_nick-lomb.jp 

There will be a spectacular conjunction between the two planets Venus and Jupiter and the crescent Moon. Though the conjunction will be impressive from anywhere in the world, it will only smile on Australia and Australian longitudes almost in the form of a “smiley” emoticon. From the USA, for instance, the conjunction will be in the form of an upside down sad face.

Although the three brightest objects in night sky will appear to be bunched up close together in the sky that does not mean that they are actually close to each other. They are, in fact, just in the same line of sight. The Moon is the closest at about 400,000 km away from Earth. Venus is almost 400 times further away while Jupiter is almost six times further away. They are not close to each other at all.

If you can, try to photograph this event as photographing such bright objects provides an easy way into celestial photography. You will need a tripod and a digital camea with the ability to take a time exposure. Bracket your exposures by taking exposures for, say, 1, 2 and 3 seconds. It can be a little tricky to record the Moon with the correct crescent shape as it is so bright that it is usually overexposed. Turn off the flash as it does not help with distant objects unless you specifically want to record the foreground - a tree or a bush, for instance. When taking the image use the self-timer on the camera to trigger the shutter so that any vibrations have the time to dampen down.

Addendum 1 December 2008: Two pictures from the previous evening. By tonight the Moon will have moved closer to the two “eyes” and will form the smiling mouth of the smiley.

081130-moonvenusjupiter-03p2_peter-willi 

last-day-of-spring-2008-ema.jpg 

Addendum 10 pm 1 December 2008. There are lots of frowns in Sydney as it has been cloudy. Here are three pictures from Colin who is 7 km west of Gunnedah, NSW to show what Sydneyites missed out on. Thanks Colin

dscf0928-small.jpg 

Perhaps it is a reminder for us to be happy amidst the crisis and problems that the world is suffering. Think positive. Be happy!

dscf0952-small.jpg 

source : http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au

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Aphrodite

I got a sms from my BFF whilst having a dinner that "Look at the moon. I'm smiling at you" I thought it was the sweetest thing she could ever say to me. So I said that to her. She called back and said she actually meant what she said. She wanted me to look at the moon. Alright, I will look at the moon but after my dinner of course.

Unfortunately, the sky was so cloudy where I live here in Koh Samui. I thought maybe it would be just our place, maybe we could drive around the island and see if there's any clearer spot. So my colleague and I drove for 1.5hrs around the island and saw nothing but some shining stars Frown I really REALLY feel so disappointed. Reading people's blogs/journals about this smiling moon makes me feel like I've missed out something GREAT. 

The reason why I wanted to see it so badly cos my friend told me that this is something that occurs in every 100 years. I dont think I'd live that long to see another one, unless there's a hot sexy vampire like Edward Cullen to suck on my neck hahaha anyway, that information was WRONG! I did some google and found out that you will be able to see it again in next 48 years hehe now thats I feel a bit better! Smile I really hope I'd still remember this in next 48 years lol I dont know if I'd still be alive by then!

So here's the story, if you've got time to read about it........

So wondering why the moon smile at you? Tonight you might have not notice the moon is smiling. Go out and look at the moon and you might see the moon smiling back at you. The smiling moon phenomenon happens every 48 years, so don’t miss it! “Astronomers say Venus and Jupiter and a crescent moon will form a smiley face tonight, with the planets forming the eyes and the moon forming the mouth. Venus and Jupiter have appeared side by side in the evening sky over the last week or so, but tonight will be the best night to see the “face” appear, astronomers say.”

smiley_1-december_2008_9-pm_nick-lomb.jp 

There will be a spectacular conjunction between the two planets Venus and Jupiter and the crescent Moon. Though the conjunction will be impressive from anywhere in the world, it will only smile on Australia and Australian longitudes almost in the form of a “smiley” emoticon. From the USA, for instance, the conjunction will be in the form of an upside down sad face.

Although the three brightest objects in night sky will appear to be bunched up close together in the sky that does not mean that they are actually close to each other. They are, in fact, just in the same line of sight. The Moon is the closest at about 400,000 km away from Earth. Venus is almost 400 times further away while Jupiter is almost six times further away. They are not close to each other at all.

If you can, try to photograph this event as photographing such bright objects provides an easy way into celestial photography. You will need a tripod and a digital camea with the ability to take a time exposure. Bracket your exposures by taking exposures for, say, 1, 2 and 3 seconds. It can be a little tricky to record the Moon with the correct crescent shape as it is so bright that it is usually overexposed. Turn off the flash as it does not help with distant objects unless you specifically want to record the foreground - a tree or a bush, for instance. When taking the image use the self-timer on the camera to trigger the shutter so that any vibrations have the time to dampen down.

Addendum 1 December 2008: Two pictures from the previous evening. By tonight the Moon will have moved closer to the two “eyes” and will form the smiling mouth of the smiley.

081130-moonvenusjupiter-03p2_peter-willi 

last-day-of-spring-2008-ema.jpg 

Addendum 10 pm 1 December 2008. There are lots of frowns in Sydney as it has been cloudy. Here are three pictures from Colin who is 7 km west of Gunnedah, NSW to show what Sydneyites missed out on. Thanks Colin

dscf0928-small.jpg 

Perhaps it is a reminder for us to be happy amidst the crisis and problems that the world is suffering. Think positive. Be happy!

dscf0952-small.jpg 

source : http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au

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It was so lovely. I was lucky that I found it in the internet news when i was at work.

After work, I just looked up on the sky around 6.30 pm while i was walking and found it . All I could do is only smailing back to it :)

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