Super Moon/Annular Eclipse

Before leaving Arizona we saw the "Super Moon," which happens when the full moon occurs at perigee – the closest approach of the Moon to the Earth.  At this point the Moon has a larger than average apparent size, making for a large full moon.  Actually, the effect wasn't that great, and I probably wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been aware of the situation.  Here are our pics of the super moon:

One of the interesting things about the super moon, though, is that the corresponding new moon is a "mini moon" – smaller than average, because it occurs at apogee, the point of greatest separation between the Earth and the Moon.  This is why the solar eclipse that occurred two weeks after the super moon was an annular eclipse, one that leaves a ring of fire around the shadow of the moon.

Why do we have "super moons" and "mini moons?"  The reason is that the Moon's orbit around the Earth is slightly elliptical, meaning that the distance from the Earth to the Moon varies.  This is illustrated in my sketch below with an orbit that is greatly exaggerated – the actual orbit is so close to circular that the human eye can't tell the difference.

More of our pictures of the annular eclipse can be found here:

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