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See The Supermoon Tonight
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.
Does anybody research these things?? It's not that THAT unusual. Slashdot is turning into Digg.
Do a Google search on "supermoon hype" and read the links!
Arrrggghhh
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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/
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So the moon spins around us in an ellipsis, where it's closest to us at perigee and furthest at apogee. Apparently it's blamed for the tsunami [dailymail.co.uk]
Well, if it's in the Daily Mail it *must* be true...
Actually, I'm not convinced that's the real Daily Mail. If it was, it would mention that the Japanese earthquake was caused by illegal benefit-scrounging immigrants to the UK, and that it stands a real chance of affecting house prices here. Oh yeah, and that we're all going to die from the 0.5cm-high remainder of the tsunami when it hits the UK and the only solution is this week's wonder food that'll let us all live to 179.
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Heh, this reminds me of when Mars came close back in `03.
http://www.v-r-a.org/ppp/Mars/Mars.htm
Folks quickly started misquoting the prediction and saying that Mars would appear larger than the full moon to the naked eye. Websites started yelling at the space programs of the world to launch rockets, wanting to put men on Mars "while it was closer than the moon".
People believe anything these days.... Would anyone like to buy some anti-radiation pills? Only $800 a box.
... and pointed at my sexy neighbor's window while everyone is distracted by the SuperMoon
Apparently it's blamed for the tsunami.
Yeah, and everyone was blaming it on the earthquake. But it was the moon all along! And he would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for that meddling kids!
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."
Here's a time-lapse of the Moonset setting over the Colorado Rockies in early/2010
I may venture out at O-dark-30 to shoot it again this year to see if it truly looks any bigger.
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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.
Stupid things and mistakes are submitted to Slashdot on an hourly basis. Blame timothy for actually posting it to the front page.
It was based on a germ of truth: Mars was to be the closest to earth and brightest in a century a couple of Augusts ago. But by the time it got garbled in the New Age Media, some people expected Mars to be bigger than the Moon and a sign of the apocalypse. And for some reason this idea gets revived every August now.