Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

See The Supermoon Tonight

Posted by timothy on from the wear-no-kryptonite dept.

watermark writes "About every 28 years a 'supermoon' occurs. This is when the moon's orbit is closest to earth at the same time as a full moon. Saturday night will be the biggest, brightest full moon you will see in the next 28 years." The buzzkills at Space.com explain though that (For North Americans at least) you'll actually only be seeing a "waning gibbous moon," but it should still be spectacular.

4 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No No No !!!!! It will be BARELY noticable by thomasdz · · Score: 5, Informative

    The best popular link I could find is from Phil Plait's "Bad Astronomy" blog:
    http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/18/kryptonite-for-the-supermoon/

    --
    Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.
  2. Re:Crash by improfane · · Score: 1, Informative

    Apparently I meant farthest.

    --
    Slashdot needs Geekcode | Can anyone recommend any good SCIFI? My tastes: Foundation, Startide Rising, CITY, Ringworld,
  3. Neil DeGrasse Tyson Says Otherwise... by delmierda · · Score: 5, Informative

    From Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Facebook post (http://www.facebook.com/#!/neiltyson): "SuperMoons? A hoax spread by the under-educated on the under-informed claiming the Moon causes quakes. Saturday's full Moon is also closest to Earth in its oval orbit. Perigee happens once per month. Full Moon+Perigee coincide every 2 or 3 years. Last one: Dec 2008. Size? Saturday's moon is 7% larger than average. The difference between a 15 & 14-inch pizza. You are now better informed than the Press."

  4. Re:No No No !!!!! It will be BARELY noticable by bunratty · · Score: 3, Informative

    But it is called a supermoon, by definition. Perhaps the name is misleading to those who don't know what it is. There will certainly be a supermoon tonight.

    --
    What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.