Friday, March 18, 2011

Super Moon

 While watching the  news   the  meteorologist  said  to  look  for the  moon  tomorrow  because  it  will  be  a  super moon .  This    sparked  my interest  in  what  the  super  moon  was  and   why  it  will  look  so  different from any  other night. So  i  looked up  some  information   to  help  me  figure it out. I  think  it  is  funny  how  it  worked out  that  we  have to  do the  moon phase journal  , its perfect timing  for  an event that we  might  have other wise  missed .

March 19 is the undoubtedly the best night to take your dear ones out for a moonlight dinner as the white orb will be 15% brighter 10% larger than normal. And if you miss it, the incident will repeat in 18 years.
Termed supermoon, experts say the full moon will occur at the same time as perigee (when the moon is at the nearest earth orbital point). The moon, otherwise at a distance of 3,84,400 km from earth, gradually comes 20,000 km closer and then moves away.
“There is no scientific significance to this. It is a non-event for astronomers. It is just that the two events are occurring together. News about earthquakes and other things are all rumors. One can only enjoy it as being bigger and brighter compared to average full-moon days,” said Piyush Pandey, director Nehru Planetarium.
Pandey added, “After 29.5 days, we have a full or new moon. Perigee and apogee occur after every 27.3 days when moon is closest and farthest. The day when both happen at the same time is termed as supermoon. This takes a lot of time as after the incident, the gap increases by 2.2 to 4.4 days and so on. They come together again only after 18 years.”
Commenting on the local weather, RV Sharma, deputy director, Indian Meteorological Department (western region), said, “There is no change in weather. Moon affects tides, which is a common incident.”

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