Global Astronomy Month 2020

GLOBAL ASTRONOMY MONTH - SUPERMOON 2020 REPORT 

City: Chennai

Date: 09/04/2020

Global Astronomy Month (GAM), organized in April every year by Astronomers Without Borders, is the world's largest global celebration of astronomy. For this year, SPACE has suggested several GAM events for conduction by SPACE associated schools.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Total number of participants 500.
• Understanding the science behind the SuperMoon.
• The online video discussion and interaction of supermoon observation motivated the students to make use of this international opportunity provided by SPACE in India.
• Capturing the photographs of super moon and share in social media by the participants SPACE Chennai.

DESCRIPTION:

           The participants understood the science behind SUPERMOON through online interaction video and how to capture and enjoy this astronomical event through various social media platforms.

A supermoon is a new or full moon that occurs around the same time as when the Moon is also at the point in its monthly orbit where it closest to Earth. April’s full Moon is the closest supermoon of the year, sitting at a distance of approximately 221,800 miles from Earth. It all comes down to the fact that the Moon’s orbit around Earth is not a perfect circle—in fact, it’s an elliptical (oval) shape.

Because of this, the Moon’s distance from Earth changes as it travels around our planet. Additionally, Earth doesn’t sit directly in the middle of this elliptical orbit, so there are points in the Moon’s orbit where it is closest and farthest from Earth. These points are called perigee and apogee, respectively.

Given that a supermoon full moon is closer to Earth than a normal full moon, it does appear larger—about 7% larger, technically speaking. This means that the difference between a full moon at perigee and a full moon at apogee can be up to 14%, which is significant.

Participants observed this supermoon and clicked photographs and shared with everyone!

PHOTOGRAPHS:

 Captured by SPACE Astronomy club Student K.B. vijayaraghavan

Captured by SPACE Astronomy club Student K.B. Aatish 

 Captured by Krishnamoorthy.V, SPACE Chennai

 Captured by SPACE Astronomy club Student Gokul

                                                                   Captured by Shiril, SPACE Chennai

                                                        Captured by SPACE Astronomy club Student Dhruv shah

CONCLUSION:

The Supermoon observation event was really exciting and successful and the photographs taken and shared were amazing and appreciated by everyone