Super full moon 19 March 2011

[Tansy_Gold]

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/


March 16, 2011: Mark your calendar. On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It's a super "perigee moon"--the biggest in almost 20 years.

"The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993," says Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC. "I'd say it's worth a look."

Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. It is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other (apogee): diagram. Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon's orbit



/image_mini

[GatesofPunk]

1. I'm glad I'm not...

On the coast. I bet the tides will be crazy.

[L. Coyote]

4. The amount of sunshine we see on the moon does not impact tides.

The moon does this all the time. What is different is the coincidence with full moon.

[GatesofPunk]

5. Oh....

Then I bet it would be awesome to watch on a beach then.

[Mojorabbit]

13. I am hoping to go shrimping that night

I have my nets and lights ready. I bet they will be running!

[L. Coyote]

2. NASA ERROR: "... oval shape of the Moon's orbit" is false!

The lunar orbit is not oval! An ellipse is not an oval.

Moon apogee is 406,720,000 meters
Moon perigee is 356,375,000 meters
That's 1.14127 : 1.0 : 0.876217.

Illumination is the square of the ratio.
That's 1.3025 : 1.0 : 0.7677.

The moon does this every 27.55457 days; this time it coincides with the full moon's 29.5305828 day frequency.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. In normal usage, 'oval' is fine for 'elliptical'

From the Oxford English Dictionary:

Having a form or outline which is bounded by a smooth curve having no concave parts, longer along one axis and rounded at each end; esp. having a shape of this kind which is symmetrical about two perpendicular axes, with the length not greatly exceeding the breadth; broad and elliptical. Occas.: (spec. in narrower sense) having the outline of an egg as projected on a surface, broader towards one end (cf. ovate adj. a).

It is sometimes said that the term oval should, on etymological grounds, be restricted to the narrower sense, ‘egg-shaped’ (cf. quot. 1904 at sense B. 1a), but usage does not reflect this. The shape regarded as typically oval is a broad ellipse; the term may occasionally be applied to elongated roundish shapes with straight or even slightly convex sides.

[elleng]

3. Note this interview (NOT interviewer!)

http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/cavuto/transcript/major-earthquake-north-america-imminent

[TalkingDog]

8. I'm just impressed that anybody at Fox News knows the word presage

much less how to use it.

[xchrom]

6. cool. -- i hope it's really pretty. nt

[Tippy]

7. My Grandson will love to see this...

He is a moon watcher....ever since he was two and a half years old...he is now four....

[tridim]

9. That's amore!

[elleng]

11. Thats LUNACY!!!

[jdlh8894]

12. Dino! You're back!

[daggahead]

10. I live in the upper midwest, so naturally ...

... we will have a cloudy night when this occurs. :P

[mva92]

15. haha

I'm just glad that an impact would kill everyone instantly, and most likely crush earth within seconds.

[Nihil]

16. WTF?

Care to enlighten the mere mortals who haven't heard the comment
that you appear to be answering?

Edited to say that, after reading your other "posts" on this forum,
I doubt you'll be around long enough to answer after you get through
enough "noise" replies to get your first post in ...

:hi: