SUPER STUNNING SUPER MOON! #GLOUCESTERMA -SCHOONER ADVENTURE, GOOD HARBOR BEACH, GLOUCESTER HARBOR, BACKSHORE

Photos of the full Super Worm Moon rising and setting.

Called the Worm Moon because the ground begins to soften and earthworms reappear, inviting Robins to our gardens. Among many names, March’s Full Moon is also called the Sleepy Moon, Sap Moon, Crust Moon, Lenten Moon, and Crow Moon.

Gloucester Harbor

Between the twin masts of the Schooner Adventure

Good Harbor Beach

Back Shore

 

A MAGICAL MIRAGE CALLED AN ‘OMEGA’ MOONRISE

February’s Super Snow Moon was magical in more ways than simply beautiful. The unusual mirage captured during the Moon’s rise was seen by other Cape Ann photographers as well as myself. Lisa Freed from Rockport photographed the omega shape, rising adjacent to Motif No.1.

The effect has several names including Omega Moonrise, Etruscan Vase Moonrise, and Inferior Mirage Moonrise. The omega shape is seen more often during a sunrise, so it is quite exciting that we were witness to an Omega Moonrise on Cape Ann!

From my reading, this is how I understand why it occurs:

During cold weather, when the seawater is warmer than the air, the lowermost air layer is warmed up by the water and produces a temperature difference.

This omega shape is a type of inferior mirage. The refracted (inverted) image is actually below the object’s true position. When the Moon protrudes above the horizon at Moonrise, its inferior mirage can sometimes be seen below it, where it joins the true Moon, creating an omega shape. For this mirage to occur, a layer of very warm air must lie just above the sea surface.


Omega Moonrise (above)

A few minutes later

GRAND SUPER SNOW MOONRISE AND MOONSET OVER GLOUCESTER

Last night’s moonrise over the Back Shore was spectacular. Click on the sequence above to see full size. I don’t know why the Moon has a “neck” in the middle photo, or what that reflective appearance is termed, but it was so interesting to see.

February’s Snow Moon was also a Super Moon. It was the the second of a trio of Super Moons taking place in 2019. The Super Snow Moon was also the largest of the three (closest to Earth). The third and final Super Moon of the year is taking place on March 21st.

Our Charlotte loves looking at the Moon, so when she popped up in bed at 5:30 in the morning and exclaimed Moon!, I bundled her up and off we went to see the Moon setting over the Harbor. I wrote last month that she loves looking up in the sky for the Moon, largely from reading her the story book Good Night, Moon, and now we are reading Buenos Noches, Luna, practicing for an upcoming trip to Mexico.

 

NASA: When a full moon appears at perigee (its closest point to Earth), it is slightly brighter and larger than a regular full moon—and that’s where we get a ‘supermoon.’ The phrase was coined in 1979.

LAST DAY TO ORDER SIGNED, LIMITED EDITION OF “Super Blue Blood Moon Over Gloucester”

LAST DAY TO ORDER SIGNED, LIMITED EDITION OF “Super Blue Blood Moon Over Gloucester”

Dear Friends,

If you would like an 8 x12 print of the “Super Blue Blood Moon Over Gloucester’s UU Church” photo, please place your order by emailing me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com, commenting in the comment section of this post, or facebook messaging me. We are printing a limited edition at 95.00 each, which includes shipping and tax. The image will be a giclee print on fine art hot press paper.

We will accept checks or cash. Place your order by February 8th and payment must be received by February 15th. The limited edition images will be printed that week and mailed immediately. Your order is not placed until you have received a confirmation of payment.

If this system works smoothly, I think we’ll do the “We Love You Too Snowy Owl” or Piping Plovers “OctoPop” next 🙂

Thank you all so much for your interest ❤

REMINDER: PRINTING A LIMITED EDITION OF “Super Blue Blood Moon Over Gloucester”

Thursday is the last day that we are taking orders for the limited edition prints of this photo. Please email if you are interested. Thank you so much.  

PRINTING A LIMITED EDITION OF “Super Blue Blood Moon Over Gloucester”

 

Dear Friends,

I am receiving so many requests for photos and would like to honor your requests while also trying to find a hassle-free simple way to do this and not take time away from completing my documentary film about the Monarchs.

If you would like an 8 x12 print of the “Super Blue Blood Moon Over Gloucester’s UU Church” photo, please place your order by emailing me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com, commenting in the comment section of this post, or facebook messaging me. We are printing a limited edition at 95.00 each, which includes shipping and tax. The image will be a giclee print on fine art hot press paper.

The next Super Blue Blood Moon won’t occur until January 31, 2037 (and it could very well be cloudy and not visible).

We will accept checks or cash. Place your order before February 8th (within this upcoming week) and payment must be received by February 15th (within two weeks). The limited edition images will be printed that week and mailed immediately. Your order is not placed until you have received a confirmation of payment.

If this system works smoothly, I think we’ll do the “We Love You Too Snowy Owl” or Piping Plovers “OctoPop” next 🙂

Thank you all so much for your interest ❤

PRINTING A LIMITED EDITION OF “Super Blue Blood Moon Over Gloucester”

PRINTING A LIMITED EDITION OF “Super Blue Blood Moon Over Gloucester”

Dear Friends,

I am receiving so many requests for photos and would like to honor your requests while also trying to find a hassle-free, simple way to do this and not take time away from completing my documentary film about the Monarchs.

If you would like an 8 x12 print of the “Super Blue Blood Moon Over Gloucester’s UU Church” photo, please place your order by emailing me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com, commenting in the comment section of this post, or facebook messaging me. We are printing a limited edition at 95.00 each, which includes shipping and tax. The image will be a giclee print on fine art hot press paper.

We will accept checks or cash. Place your order before February 8th (within this upcoming week) and payment must be received by February 15th (within two weeks). The limited edition images will be printed that week and mailed immediately. Your order is not placed until you have received a confirmation of payment.

If this system works smoothly, I think we’ll do the “We Love You Too Snowy Owl” or Piping Plovers “OctoPop” next 🙂

Thank you all so much for your interest ❤

A FEW MORE PHOTOS #SuperBlueBloodMoon OVER GLOUCESTER -By Kim Smith

A rare beauty treat this morning to see the Super Blue Blood Moon descending, with a touch of the lunar eclipse. My favorite photo is the one posted this morning and here are a few more.

#SuperBlueBloodMoon OVER GLOUCESTER -By Kim Smith

A rare and spectacular trifecta of Moon events occurred this morning– a Blue Moon, a Supermoon, and a lunar eclipse. Additionally, I have been trying to get a shot of the Moon slipping behind the UU Church. I thought it would be beautiful if it ever lined up all at once, to see Moonlight coming through the open arches of the UU Church’s steeple. In the past either the weather didn’t cooperate or the site line was off. Today, joy! And because of the eclipse there is a magnificent red shadow edging the Moon’s glow.  

From NASA: So for viewers in the East the Moon will enter the outer part of Earth’s shadow at 5:51 a.m., but Johnston says it won’t be all that noticeable. The darker part of Earth’s shadow will begin to blanket part of the Moon with a reddish tint at 6:48 a.m. EST, but the Moon will set less than a half-hour later. “So your best opportunity if you live in the East is to head outside about 6:45 a.m. and get to a high place to watch the start of the eclipse—make sure you have a clear line of sight to the horizon in the west-northwest, opposite from where the Sun will rise,” said Johnston. 

 

 

BRILLIANT DECEMBER SUPER MOON OVER GLOUCESTER CITY SKYLINE

The only super moon of 2017, December’s full moon was fittingly named by Native American tribes the “Long Night’s Moon,” the “Frost Moon,” and the “Cold Moon.” In Europe, December’s full moon is called the “Yule Moon.”

December’s full moon kicks off a trilogy of super moons. The next super moon is January 1st, 2018 and the following super moon is January 31st, 2018 which also makes it a “Blue Moon,” (the second of two full moons in a month is called a Blue Moon).

First in the Super Moon Trilogy 

SUPER MOON, HOWLING COYOTES, FLYING SWAN, SONGBIRDS GOING CRAZY, AND BEAUTIFUL BRACE COVE DAYBREAK

rocky-neck-smith-cove-daybreak-copyright-kim-smithLast Tuesday was a photographer’s magical dream morning. After photographing and filming December’s “Long Night’s Moon” descending over the Gloucester city skyline, I turned toward the east to see a peaceful daybreak scene over Rocky Neck. Perhaps the sun hadn’t fully risen I thought and hurried to Brace Cove. The sun had rose behind Brace Rock with just enough clouds that it was still pretty, not blasted out by too much light.

I then walked along the edge of Niles Pond, meeting up with Mr. Swan who was occupied with his morning swim, which often indicates he is readying to take flight. He did, and with movie camera in hand, he circled the Pond before landing at Brace Cove, near the breakwater.

Eerily, the coyotes were howling in the distance, actually howling, like wolves, and for quite a long while. I often hear their meet-and-greet yipping and socializing barks that they make shortly after sunset, and too the terrible sound they make when killing a creature, but I have never heard them howling in the morning. I wonder if it had something to do with the full moon? Do our readers hear coyotes howling regularly?

tufted-titmouse-copyright-kim-smith

Tufted Titmouse

Further along the Pond walk there was a large flock of American Robins and they, along with a lively group of Blue Jays, Tufted Titmice, Song Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, and Cardinals were hungrily eating every berry in sight, so much so that when I returned to the same spot a few days later, there wasn’t a berry or fruit to be seen. A magical morning at a magical place we’re fortunate to call home.

full-cold-moon-frosty-moon-december-2016-gloucester-ma-city-skyline-1-copyright-kim-smith

December Long Night’s Moon