[ad_1]
Muscat: Timing is everything if you want to catch the best blue moon. The supermoon on Monday, August 19, will be an astronomical event to watch and astronomy enthusiasts have already started preparing for it.
The supermoon, also known as a blue moon, will rise around 5:37 p.m.
Weather permitting, the supermoon will be visible around the world. Oman has been experiencing low cloud due to a tropical wave in the upper atmosphere.
One of the main reasons photographers get excited about a supermoon is its visibility. It is said that the best time to view it is generally during moonrise or moonset, when the moon is closer to the horizon.
Monday’s moon is expected to be about 16 percent brighter than a normal moon, and larger. Binoculars or a telescope are ideal for close viewing, although the supermoon will be spectacular to the naked eye. It’s also a great time for photography. Photographers are gearing up for this celestial spectacle.
According to Ajayan Poyyara, a photographer who is keen on capturing celestial sights, the time before the stars become visible is spent searching for them.
“The correct position is important. Once the moon rises, there is no time because the moon moves faster than we realize and faster than we can move it with a tripod. This happened when I tried to align the position of the moon with the tallest minaret of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque,” Poyyara explained.
“My friend photographer Sanak Roy Choudhury used a lot of creativity in capturing the moon and Muttrah Fort, besides the technique and equipment, the photographer also had the ability to grasp the timing,” Poyyara added.
A supermoon occurs when the moon’s orbit is closest to Earth during a full moon. At the peak of this month’s supermoon, the moon was about 225,288 miles from Earth, making it appear slightly larger than a normal moon and about 16% brighter.
According to Ajayan Poyyara, some ideal locations to photograph the full moon are:
1- Mutrah Fort, keeping the fort in the foreground, the rising moon is partially exposed above the fort or above the hill.
2- Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque – Get to the west side of the mosque in time and position your tripod and camera to get a clear shot of the supermoon rising above the main dome.
3- After a while, and after moving and repositioning your camera appropriately, you can also take another photo of the moon above the tallest spire.
4- Keeping the minaret of the Al Ameen Mosque in the foreground is another interesting way to photograph the supermoon. It may take some prior scouting to determine a suitable location to keep the mosque in the foreground and the moon above it.
“Ideally, a zoom lens will produce exciting images. A 200-500mm lens or one with more zoom capability is better. But remember, you have to get away from the foreground subject to get a stunning image,” Poyyara says.
Nowadays, technology plays a vital role and PhotoPills is a mobile application that provides detailed information about celestial bodies, their movements, and when they occur.
“We can also plan out the locations ahead of time and picture the subject/foreground in our mind. This is true even when we are travelling. Its augmented reality feature helps us see ‘what’s happening’ in time so we can plan ahead and get to our destination,” Poyyara points out.
Supermoons always have cultural significance. A supermoon occurs when the full moon and the moon are at or near their closest point to Earth in their elliptical orbit, called perigee. This proximity makes the moon appear larger and brighter than usual at night.
Supermoons often attract attention and are celebrated in different cultures. Supermoons provide photographers, stargazers, and people interested in astronomy with an opportunity to observe and capture the beauty of the night sky.
[ad_2]
Source link
