Quake3World

A supermoon will rise above Australia tonight, creating an impressive view in the early evening sky and bringing a king tide.
The Moon will appear bigger and bolder than usual as it passes closer to the Earth just in time for a full moon.
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Astronomer Dave Reneke says supermoons are not that rare, but tonight's is as close as the Moon will get all year.

Space expert Heather Couper... explained that when the Moon was high in the sky, it looked normal. But as it got closer to the horizon, a "kind of optical illusion" occurred where it looked bigger when compared with trees or houses, she said... "The supermoon might look bigger than normal if you see it in the evening when the Moon's just rising, but the real size difference isn't big enough to notice."

[...]

Dr Couper said the tides this weekend would be unaffected.

Okay to call last night's Full Moon "super", but only if you'd call a 13-inch pizza "super" compared with a 12-inch pizza. The perennially hyped name "Super Moon" insults the legacy of Superman, Super Volcanoes, Supernovae, and even Super Mario.

In case you didn't know Moon's orbit around Earth is oval. Distance varies by about 10%. When Moon is Full & "close", some feel compelled to call it the Super Moon.

And while we're on the subject: The Moon's capacity to raise tides on Earth is no greater when Full than at any other phase. The tides during Full (and New) Moon are highest **only** because that's when the Sun's tides add directly to them. During half-moons (1st & 3rd quarter), the Lunar & Solar tides add out of phase, partly canceling one another.

The Sun's tides are only about 1/3 that of the Moon's, so even during the canceling quarter phases, some Moon-tide remains.

And not to disturb anybody, but Tides cause friction between Earth's crust and the sloshing oceans, slowing down our rotation rate. Not only is Earth's rotation slowly slowing down -- we've needed (and added) 25 leap seconds to the calendar over the past 40 years. In dynamic response to this the Moon's orbit is spiraling away from us by about 2-inches per year.

GONNAFISTYA wrote:...... Buy your bomb shelter today.