A little afterglow of the full moon remains
Immediately after the sunset in Central Germany (depending on the location between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m.), those interested could see the super full moon on Wednesday, July 13th. rising in the southeast shortly after 10 p.m. That was a good hour and a half after the exact time of the full moon, i.e. the point at which the sun and moon face each other directly. It reached its zenith at 1:30 a.m. Those who were still awake could marvel at it at the highest point before it set again in the southwest at around five o’clock. Unfortunately, the weather doesn’t cooperate everywhere. But there were also gaps in the clouds again and again in Central Germany. After the hot day with 30 degrees, it was also a mild night. And since the moon only described a flat arc over the horizon, you could see it at eye level. In the coming nights, the waning moon will still shine brightly in the south above the horizon.
After midnight, the planets followed – and the ISS
Things got particularly interesting after midnight. Then three planets followed the super full moon in a row to the east. Saturn, Jupiter and furthest east red Mars. on Stellarium you can take a close look at the constellation. And discover that the International Space Station looks at the moon and the planets several times during the night. The ISS flies over the full moon for the first time at around 11:23 p.m. Shortly before one o’clock and shortly after half past two you have the opportunity to see the full moon, planets and ISS together.
There used to be more moon
The moon is getting further and further away from the earth. At least 3.8 centimeters per year. In other words: There used to be more moon. About four billion years ago – only 500 million years after the Earth-Moon system had established itself – the moon was only 60,000 kilometers away from the earth. The term super moon had a completely different effect. However, there was no one who appreciated that. In this collage, researchers from the German Aerospace Center show exactly what that might have looked like.