For the first time in 18 years, the full moon will become a Super Moon rising from the east that will be a perigee full moon, or “super moonthat will have super Moon Special Effects .” What that means, according to NASA, is that the lunar orb is much closer to the Earth than usual.
The last time the supermoon's slow spin brought it so near to us was March 1993. It’s not expected to happen again for at least another 18 years.
NASA says the moon will appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter. But the key to getting the most out of this celestial event lies in looking to the sky at the right time.
Peer at the moon as it rises over the horizon and it will likely appear “absolutely enormous,” says NASA.
The so-called "supermoon" will appear about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than normal, according to NASA.
It’s long been lore to blame a full moon for misfortune, and there’s plenty of Internet speculation – some by actual scientists -- that this weekend’s “super moon” triggered last week’s mega-earthquake and tsunami that crushed the coast of Japan.
Though the catastrophic 9.0 temblor was so powerful it shifted the Earth’s axis 6.5 inches, moved Japan’s coast eight feet and slightly shortened the length of our planet’s day, NASA says the super moon had absolutely nothing to do with it.
This Super Moon will, however, bring higher high tides to the Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River.
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| The Super Moon will take a fill shape and appears bigger to the human eye on Saturday at 9.10 pm |
“At that point, the Super Moon will be around 365,576.9 km from earth, which is the closest distance in 20 years….it will be a full moon and fully lighted,” he said, quoted by the Saudi Arabic language daily Sharq.
"The full moon has been linked to crime, suicide, mental illness, disasters, accidents, birthrates, fertility, and werewolves, among other things. Some people even buy and sell stocks according to phases of the moon, a method probably as successful as many others. Numerous studies have tried to find lunar effects. So far, the studies have failed to establish much of interest."
If a supermoon affects the human body, then a supermoon surely would send special Moon effects into overdrive, leading to even more pregnancies, epileptic seizures, surgery screw-ups, suicides, assaults and various other types of biological havoc. Surely, it would.
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| The moon rises over L.A. City Hall on Friday. Saturday's full moon will be the closest since 1993.(Scott Harrison, Los Angeles Times / March 18, 2011) This story from LiveScience takes a similar tack with similar results. Writer Robert Roy Britt notes: "When strange things happen at supermoon, people notice the "coincidental" big bright orb in the sky and wonder. When strange things happen during the rest of the month, well, they're just considered strange, and people don't tie them to celestial events." |
The National Weather Service in Sterling says tonight’s weather should be just fine for viewing the rare super moon. Temperatures will be a chilly but bearable and the only clouds in the sky will be high and thin.
