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Here Are Some of the Best Snapshots of Saturday’s Supermoon… Including Pics from Blaze Readers

May. 7, 2012 8:38am Liz Klimas

A "supermoon" is seen behind the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: AP/Victor R. Caivano)

In case it was cloudy where you were sitting on Saturday late evening or early Sunday, or if you plum forgot, or if you just can’t get enough of the amazing optical illusion, we’ve compiled some of the best images of the supermoon — the biggest and brightest full moon of 2012.

In Brazil, the supermoon illuminated the landmark Christ the Redeemer statue and later set behind a shanty town. In Florida, fishermen worked their lines amid the moonlight in Bal Harbour. And near Athens, tourists watched as the moon rose behind the Temple of Poseidon.

The moon was the closest it will get to the Earth this year — and appeared 14 percent larger because of that. At its peak it was about 221,802 miles from Earth. That’s about 15,300 miles closer than average.

Check out these photos from Blaze reader Derek Kind.

(Photo: Derek Kind via Google Plus)

Composite image of frames taken over a period of 12 minutes. (Photo: Derek Kind via Google Plus)

(Photo: Derek Kind via Google Plus)

Here are a few more sent to us from Blaze readers:

(Photo: Deirdre)

Taken at the 2012 Cherry Point Airshow. (Photo: Olivia G.)

(Photo: Mike Ybarra via Facebook)

(Photo: Kevin F.)

"Perigee on Buffalo" shot in Wyoming. (Photo: Darrin F. )

Rising in Phoenix, AZ. (Photo: Chuck R.)

Moon rising over Orrs Island, Harpswell, Maine. (Photo: Steve L.)

Taken at Harbor Town in Hilton Head, South Carolina. (Photo: Jim Crotty via Flickr)

Blaze reader Dan D. even sent us this time-laspsed video from San Diego:

Check out this other time-lapse of the moon over Lake Michigan (Note: Jump to 25 seconds to see it beginning to rise):

Here are a couple more sent to the Associated Press:

The moon rises in the Atlantic Ocean, Saturday, May 5, 2012 near Bal Harbour, Fla. (Photo: AP/Wilfredo Lee)

The "supermoon" appears behind the Mare shanty town complex in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: AP/Victor R. Caivano)

If you have any more cool images — or more video — of the supermoon, send it our way.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story has been updated to include more photos and video sent to us from Blaze readers.

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Comments (56)

Black Tiger
Posted on May 8, 2012 at 1:30am
Some very awesome photography displayed here; kudos to the photographers.

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ignoramus
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 7:20pm
As a long time Pro Photographer, I am very impressed with the quality of images displayed here. The ultimate technical challenge to get a detailed image of the surface of the moon can be accomplished by less than one person in 100. Some didn’t make it, but many here did quite well. Kudos!
This bunch is smarter than the usual troll infested chat streams found elsewhere. Now if we could eradicate the Nattering Nabobs of Negativity from our political commentary we could usher in the new millennium. No 3Ns allowed.
ignoramus.US

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gojimmynow
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 6:35pm
“Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder”. To me it is time to remove the Enemy in Washington, seriously! The moon brightens up, so must humanity!

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CoGod
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 3:31pm
The last picture is what the moon will look like from every American town soon if we do not get the Obamas out of the Whitehouse.

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- mama6
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 8:53pm
  That was a good point!! At least the left can’t take out the moon even though they bombed it several years ago.
  
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Tom K
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 1:49pm
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth . . . That ole’ moon has been coasting around God’s green earth for a long time; about 6 or 7 thousand years, or so. Earth’s moon still looks pretty good. Last weekend it was spectacular. My grandson wanted to be an astronaut until Obama KILLED the manned space program. Thanks, nitwit; no second term for you !

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- DoomsdayProphet
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 2:24pm
  It is awesome. 7k years though? That is a bit of an underestimation.
  
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- RepublicAgain
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 2:47pm
  Ha! Ha! Darn right, no second term! Bella Luna!
  
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- Wolf
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 3:10pm
  Doomsday- and your best guesstimate is what? A clearly defined and exact two billion years or so? And our exact moment of crawling from the muck to swing in trees was… what?
  
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- Brooke Lorren
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 3:40pm
  By the literal interpretation of the Bible, it is about 7k years.
  
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Fishmanone
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 1:12pm
This moon was Bush’s fault!!

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- Arizona Don
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 3:30pm
  How can you get everything so wrong. Obama has already taken credit for giving an order for the moon!
  
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- Rick54
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 7:29pm
  and if he had his way we would be taxed just to look at it, missed it, cloud cover :(
  
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AmazingGrace8
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 1:08pm
Silly unbelievers that will attend an auction of a painting “The Scream” and pay millions for what actually is the “condition of mankind”.
After leaving a cabaret show in Paris, I walked out to see a full moon on display and down the street the Moulin Rouge sign in the background and I marveled at the sight and a few non-American tourist who were on the tour, looked at me strangely and knowing I was from Montana, they said, possibly with sarcasm, “don’t you see full moons in Montana or do the mountains block-out the moon”?
What is “just normal” can be said of unbelievers. Thank you Blaze for the picture of Our Redeemer. I have a poster of the globe taken by Nasa many years ago…but would love that someone in their poster business or whatever would duplicate this picture…I would love to have a poster of this picture. This picture is worth a “million-words” during this time in the world’s “falling-from-grace”.

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frust@ted
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 12:40pm
I always thought that the moon stayed around the same distance to earth and that when it is a little closer that the size difference is not noticable to the human eye and that the reason that the moon looks larger has more to do with the orbit passing very close to the horizon than the actual distance of the moon. I’m not sure what this is called but it has something to do with the fact that when it is close to the horizon we have other objects near it like the Christ The Redemer Statue and that are eyes play a trick on us by making our mind precieve it to be larger because of the objects near it rather than it being high in the sky with nothing but stars around it. Anyone else know if this is true?

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- DK77
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 1:41pm
  I think this “supermoon” was about 14% bigger than the smallest moon we’ll see this year. So there isn’t a big difference between this moon and a regular moon. But it was brighter than usual, because this year the full moon coincided with “perigee” (when the moon is closest to earth). So while it was a special event in relative terms, casual observers may not have noticed a difference. But it was a great excuse for photographers to get out their long lenses.
  
  There is an effect that makes the moon look larger when it’s close to the horizon – I don’t know what causes it. The photos of a huge moon behind foreground objects, like the one in Rio behind Christ the Redeemer, would have had to have been taken with a very long lens at a great distance to the foreground subject, to flatten the perspective. Either that or photoshopped. :-)
  
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- KickinBack
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 2:39pm
  The moon always looks larger on the horizon due to an optical illusion. When viewed low and behind objects (trees, houses, hills, Christ the Redeemer…) The illusion is enhanced, however, you only get the “mega massive” moon pics when you use full zoom on your camera.
  
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riseandshine
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 12:33pm
“It’s Cosmo’s moon”.

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G-WHIZ
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 11:57am
And here is an eeeextreeeemely-rare-and-dusty pix of JoeBieden actually telling a truth. :-)

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Daveed
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 10:54am
Beautiful pictures. Only God can hang the moon to light our way at night so we do not lose our way. His Awesomeness is overwhelming.

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- toomuchgovt
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 11:47am
  That would explain why in NY we could barely see it.
  
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- HorseCrazy
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 12:02pm
  God made a beautiful earth for us. I don’t know how anyone can look at that moon and not see the Creator. We had a beautiful show that night
  
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- Dolt
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 12:07pm
  So he only wanted us to “see our way” about one week out of each month?
  
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- Wolf
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 3:21pm
  Dolt- your name is well deserved.
  
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MastinoDF
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 10:08am
Not sure why but atleast here in Texas it looked bigger Sunday night.

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- WhiteFang
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 10:38am
  Everything is bigger in Texas. At least that is what I have been told.
  
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- G-WHIZ
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 11:59am
  Nothin’ ta see here…in Texas. Everything here…is bigger!
  
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Jackie Rogers, Jr.
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 10:00am
I guess the photograph of the moon over the Atlantic is turned upside down? Because the image is the inverse of the one below it, taken in Rio.

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- UseReasonNotMagic
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 12:48pm
  When you look through a telescope, the image is usually reversed (depending on they type of telescope used)
  
  I can only imagine this photo was taken through a telescope which is why it is reversed.
  
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- rosegrower
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 1:10pm
  I believe that Rio is in the southern hemisphere, so the angle at which light is reflected off the earth would be a mirror opposite of the way it’s reflected in the northern hemisphere. The pictures aren’t flipped – the earth is.
  
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itsjustgigi
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:51am
I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul… we’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream. Neil Armstrong
Everything about the current administration goes against my nature, human nature. Bring back the space program!

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- jungle J
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 10:43am
  sometimes you have to drop the politics…please do yourself a favor….just for a moment…
  
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- cessna152
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 11:28am
  “I’m going to destroy the Earth with my Plutonium 235 space modulator…”
  
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- napoleon_solo
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 1:34pm
  I agree. We could use a restoration of the excitement and magic of the 60′s space program.
  
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marthasusan40
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:43am
How do you send pictures to the Blaze?

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teddrunk
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:43am
This moon was Bush’s fault.

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GroundZero is Nuclear Demolition x3
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:33am
Pretty awesome!!

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BeingThere
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:26am
Ok, hold on, I’m waiting for Michael Moore to bend over!

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- RightUnite
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:34am
  Ewww! Thanks for that nasty visual!
  
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- FreeUsAll
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 4:00pm
  Lol. Bringing Michael Moore into commentary about a full moon was only inevitable.
  
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Mainer forever
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:26am
Great Pics. I plum forgot about this event. Studying for finals etc.

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momrules
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:26am
As I watched that beautiful moon I was reminded of a Neil Diamon song titled Done Too Soon.

Every person who has ever lived looked up in wonder at that same moon. An amazing thought, isn’t it.

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- WhiteFang
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 10:36am
  An amazing thought indeed.
  Thanks.
  
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TheGrayrider
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:22am
Ohhhh it IS a regular moon….Happens along every now and again….like a cycle…..like the weather….but you see….there is no money in something that happens every now and again. Global nut jobs have been around for ever….they used to chop heads off when there was an eclipse. Now, they just want your money….or they will chop your head off.

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deeberj
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:15am
It was cloudy where I live and we could not see it.

The Rio pictures are beautiful.

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- Gonzo
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:27am
  I like the Rio pic too.
  
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love the kids
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:08am
It used to just be a regular moon until global warming!!!

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Nolooters
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 8:56am
Beautiful wonders of our universe and a gentle reminder of God’s awesomeness!

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- 4xeverything
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:10am
  So true! Awesome pics.
  
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- mama6
  Posted on May 7, 2012 at 9:34am
  Well said!!!
  
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jhaydeng
Posted on May 7, 2012 at 8:52am
Took my daughter with her telescope to see it! Pretty cool!

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