Pic(k) of the Week: Blue sturgeon supermoon

A rare lunar convergence: August's full sturgeon moon was a blue moon AND a supermoon!

As seen over the Columbia Presbyterian Church, in the City of Decatur, Georgia, USA, on the evening of 19 August 2024 at 22:06 EDT.

☞ The name Sturgeon Moon comes from the giant lake sturgeon of the American Great Lakes; this native freshwater fish was readily caught during this part of summer and an important food staple for Native Americans who lived in the region. At one time the lake sturgeon was quite abundant in late summer, though they are rarer today.

☞ The super moon part refers to the moon's orbit, which brings it slightly closer to Earth this month, making it appear bigger and brighter. This occurs since the moon’s orbit around the Earth is elliptical instead of just a circle, and thus there are times when the moon is further and closer to our planet.

☞ A blue moon is not about the color of the moon, but instead the frequency of the full moon. There are two definitions of a blue moon—the first describes when there are two full moons in a single month. Since the moon’s cycle is 29.5 days, and our average calendar month is 30-31 days, this blue moon occurs every two to three years. There are also seasonal blue moons, in which a calendar season contains four full moons instead of the usual three, and the blue moon is the third of the four full moons. August’s full moon is of this variety. The next seasonal blue moon is expected in May 2027.

☞ The combination of the super moon and the blue moon is rare, and the time between their occurrences is quite 'irregular' and could be as much as 20 years, with 10 years between the average. Though we had a super blue moon somewhat recently, in August 2023, the next super blue moon will not occur until January 2037.

— Old Farmer's Almanac.
— Time Magazine.

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• I photographed the church steeple with a 40 mm focal length and a long exposure of 30 seconds. A few minutes later, I photographed the moon as it rose to parallel with the steeple, but with a longer 300 mm focal length and a shorter shutter speed of 1/200th of a second. Later, I merged the two photos in post-production, in effect combining a time-blend with a focal-length-blend. This created an image closely mimicking what I had actually observed. A stellar sight!


• Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of images posted on Saturdays.
• Photo 34 of 52, for year 2024. See a larger, hi-res version on Flickr: here.
• Commercial reproduction requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.


• Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II.
• Focal length/time blend
  • Image 1
    • Lens: Olympus M.40-150mm F4.0-5.6 R
    • Settings: 40 mm; 30 sec; ISO 200; ƒ/5.6
  • Image 2
    • Lens: Lumix G Vario 100-300/F4.0-5.6
    • Settings: 300 mm; 1/200 sec; ISO 200; ƒ/5.6
  
  
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