'Supermoon' Rises: Biggest Full Moon in 18 Years Occurs Saturday Night
Published March 18, 2011


The dazzling full moon sets behind the Very Large Telescope in Chile's Atacama Desert in this photo released June 7, 2010 by the European Southern Observatory. The moon appears larger than normal due to an optical illusion of perspective.

Thanks to a fluke of orbital mechanics that brings the moon closer to Earth than that it has been in more than 18 years, the biggest full moon of 2011 will occur on Saturday, leading some observers to dub it a "supermoon."

On Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, the moon will arrive at its closest point to the Earth in 2011: a distance of 221,565 miles away. And only 50 minutes earlier, the moon will officially be full.

At its peak, the supermoon of March may appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than lesser full moons (when the moon is at its farthest from Earth), weather permitting. Yet to the casual observer, it may be hard to tell the difference.

The supermoon will not cause natural disasters, such as the Japan earthquake, a NASA scientist has stressed.


Spotting the supermoon

The moon has not been in a position to appear this large since March 1993.

In December 2008, there was a near-supermoon when the moon turned full four hours away from its perigee – the point in its orbit that is closest to Earth. But this month, the full moon and perigee are just under one hour apart, promising spectacular views, depending on local conditions.

Although a full moon theoretically lasts just a moment, that moment is imperceptible to ordinary observation.

During the day or so before and after, most will speak of seeing the nearly full moon as "full," with the actual shaded area of the lunar surface being so narrow – and changing in apparent width so slowly – that it is hard for the naked eye to tell whether it's present, or which side it is.


Supermoon making waves

In addition, the near coincidence of Saturday’s full moon with perigee will result in a dramatically large range of high and low ocean tides.

The highest tides will not, however, coincide with the perigee moon but will actually lag by up to a few days depending on the specific coastal location. For example, in Wilmington, N.C., the highest tide (5.3 feet) will be attained at 11:21 p.m. EDT on March 20.

In New York City, high water (5.9 feet) at The Battery comes at 10:49 p.m. EDT on March 21, while at Boston Harbor, a peak tide height of 12.2 feet comes at 1:31 a.m. EDT on March 22, almost 2 1/2 after perigee.

But then, to those living on the shores near the Bay of Fundy in eastern Canada, the 10- to 20-foot (3- to 6-meter) increase in the vertical tidal range makes it obvious when the Moon lies near perigee, clear skies or cloudy.

Any coastal storm at sea around this time will almost certainly aggravate coastal flooding problems.

Such an extreme tide is known as a perigean spring tide, the word spring being derived from the German springen – to "spring up," and is not, as is often mistaken, a reference to the spring season.

In contrast, later this year, on October 11, the full moon will closely coincide with apogee, its farthest point from the Earth. In fact, on that night the moon will appear 12.3 percent smaller than it will appear this weekend.


Big full moon's appearance is deceiving

And while this weekend’s moon will be – as the Observer’s Handbook of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada suggests – the "largest full moon of 2011," the variation of the moon's distance is not readily apparent to observers viewing the moon directly.


Or is it?

When the perigee moon lies close to the horizon, it can appear absolutely enormous. That is when the famous “moon illusion” combines with reality to produce a truly stunning view.

For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, a low-hanging moon looks incredibly large when hovering near trees, buildings and other foreground objects. The fact that the moon will be much closer than usual this weekend will only serve to amplify this strange effect.

So … a perigee moon, either rising in the east at sunset or dropping down in the west at sunrise might seem to make the moon appear so close that it almost appears that you could touch it. You can check out this out for yourself by first noting the times for moonrise and moonset for your area by going to this website.

Happy mooning!


Read more: [www.foxnews.com]

odd - they don't even mention that in december 1999 it was closer than in 200 years or something.
i was in Tibet at the time - was that ever a spectacular place for moon-viewing!

I was out for a walk @ 4:45 am ( NE US ) the moon was brilliant .
Very bright and seemed to be larger than usual .
Quite impressive .

OOOWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

well i'm a lunatic, in several senses of the word, so thanks for posting.

it's passing by Saturn tonight, so yes the viewing is good...

[www.fourmilab.ch]

Some of you won't get the reference, but I was looking at the man in the moon the other night and noticed that he really DOES look like Jackie Gleason!

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novica

I didn't know this one! Thanks!

...Dàmn... It really took me a while to completely 'get' that thread title... Another slow day...

["I can hear the Bullfrog calling me..."]

Can't seem to find this on YouTube anymore: [www.dailymotion.com]

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tatters
Some of you won't get the reference, but I was looking at the man in the moon the other night and noticed that he really DOES look like Jackie Gleason!

Absolutely! My drummer and I had this same conversation on the way home from practice tonight.

..and finally the number one moon-song:





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SwayStones

Now that is a cool moon.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

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sweetcharmedlife

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SwayStones

Now that is a cool moon.

I cannot remember whose poster -if you read me,forgive me -from Iorr sent a link with many tongues logos & gifs,included that one , it became my screensaver since I find it soo beautiful .



I am a Frenchie ,as Mick affectionately called them in the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977 .

This is off subject but the first day of spring, "officially", was not the first day of Spring in New Orleans and SE Louisiana - that was actually 3 days before, in direct respect to the 12 hours of sunlight, which was exactly 12 hours on March 17th.

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skipstone
This is off subject but the first day of spring, "officially", was not the first day of Spring in New Orleans and SE Louisiana - that was actually 3 days before, in direct respect to the 12 hours of sunlight, which was exactly 12 hours on March 17th.

Fascinating Skip.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-23 18:12 by sweetcharmedlife.

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sweetcharmedlife

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skipstone
This is off subject but the first day of spring, "officially", was not the first day of Spring in New Orleans and SE Louisiana - that was actually 3 days before, in direct respect to the 12 hours of sunlight, which was exactly 12 hours on March 17th.

Fascinating Skip.

Glad you enjoyed it. A little bit of science is good for ya.