The recent super-moon on January 1st was exceptionally bright and the effect was even enhanced by some rare clound cover in the above photo taken from Altamount by Fr. James McSweeney. [2u.ie]
The super-moon is so called is when the moon is at its closest to Earth and thus at it’s brightest. We have one or more super-moons every year, but the clouds as shown above are much rarer and get no publicity because they are unpredictable and just appear. They are normal clouds, but the cloud is sitting on the highest point of a gravity wave, thus appearing to be in straight lines.
There are many reasons for the gravity waves, from wind flowing over mountains, the Jet Stream, to solar radiation, but in this case it’s likely that the approaching Storm Eleanor was the trigger. Still, we’re glad that they were captured by Fr. James.
Did anyone else near Millstreet see the weird sky earlier on this evening?
— Amazing Beads (@sueatkilmeedy) January 1, 2018
No. It wasn't that. The clouds were in strips across the whole sky. It was really weird.
— Amazing Beads (@sueatkilmeedy) January 1, 2018
Read also:
Gravity Wave Clouds and Their Fractal Content
Super Moon Dates
| Year | Date |
|---|---|
| 2018 | Tuesday, 2 January |
| 2019 | Monday, 21 January |
| 2019 | Tuesday, 19 February |
| 2020 | Monday, 9 March |
| 2020 | Wednesday, 8 April |
