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A SuperMoon this Weekend

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I don't mean to rain on the parade, but I will, or I'll let Phil Plait do so anyway:

The Supermoon stuff? AGAIN? | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine


Sigh.​
You may’ve seen some folks writing about this weekend’s so-called Supermoon. I suppose I’m not surprised, but it’s still irritating. Why? Because it’s just hype (and to get this out of the way immediately, will have no real effect on the Earth, either). Here’s the scoop.​
This weekend, on the night of May 5/6, the Moon will be full. This happens every 29 days or so when the Moon is opposite the Sun in the sky, and we see its face fully illuminated.​
As it happens, the Moon’s orbit is elliptical, and so sometimes the Moon is a bit closer to the Earth than other times. Every now and again the Moon is full when it’s also closest to Earth — the point in its orbit called perigee. May 5th is one of those times.​
What does this mean? Well, it means the Moon is closer, so it will appear a bit bigger and brighter than usual. But here’s the thing: you’d never know. Seriously, to the eye it’ll look exactly the same as it always does when it’s full. The Moon is actually pretty small in the sky — if you don’t believe me, go outside tonight, find the Moon, and hold your thumb up at arm’s length next to it; it’ll easilycover the Moon entirely (my thumb is 2 – 3 times wider than the Moon). A small change in its size is something that’s really hard to see.​
To be specific, according to Fourmilab, the Moon will be 356,953 kilometers from Earth when it’s full. However, last month, on April 7, when it was full it was about 358,313 km away. That’s a difference of 1400 km, less than 1%. So really, the size of the full Moon this weekend won’t be any different than it was last month, and no one was writing about it then. And to show I’m not being biased, take a look at when the Moon was full near apogee — the most distant point in its orbit. That’ll happen in late November of 2012, when it’ll be at a distance of 406,364 km. That’s still only a difference of less than 14%.
That’s a pretty small change, not enough to notice by eye. To see the difference in this weekend’s full Moon, you’d need to take a picture and compare its size to how it looks at some other full Moon. The picture above shows that pretty well (click to enlunenate). You can see the difference between perigee and apogee Moons there easily, but that’s because the Moons are side-by-side. This weekend, with the rising Moon all by itself in the sky, you have nothing to compare it to. It’ll look the same as it always does (and don’t confuse the rising Moon looking huge due to the Moon Illusion with this Supermoon silliness).
That hasn’t stopped some news venues touting this as a "Supermoon". I’m seeing it on websites, on Twitter, and getting email about it, and like I said, it’s irritating (and I’ll add the idea for this whole as well as the term "Supermoon" were started by an astrologer, so draw your own conclusions there). I’m all for encouraging people to go out and look at the Moon, but it shouldn’t be under false pretenses. I mean, c’mon: it’s the Moon! It’s bright and silvery and lovely and you can see features with your naked eye and with a telescope you’ll see tons more!
Even though it’s not super, the Moon isn’t exactly mild mannered either. So if you can, go out and look. Not just this weekend, but any time! Use a telescope, or binoculars, or just go and look anyway. Because it’s pretty, and it’s ours, and it’s always worth a look.
 
Angel of Ioren said:
I don't mean to rain on the parade, but I will, or I'll let Phil Plait do so anyway:

The Supermoon stuff? AGAIN? | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine


Sigh.​
You may’ve seen some folks writing about this weekend’s so-called Supermoon. I suppose I’m not surprised, but it’s still irritating. Why? Because it’s just hype (and to get this out of the way immediately, will have no real effect on the Earth, either). Here’s the scoop.​
This weekend, on the night of May 5/6, the Moon will be full. This happens every 29 days or so when the Moon is opposite the Sun in the sky, and we see its face fully illuminated.​
As it happens, the Moon’s orbit is elliptical, and so sometimes the Moon is a bit closer to the Earth than other times. Every now and again the Moon is full when it’s also closest to Earth — the point in its orbit called perigee. May 5th is one of those times.​
What does this mean? Well, it means the Moon is closer, so it will appear a bit bigger and brighter than usual. But here’s the thing: you’d never know. Seriously, to the eye it’ll look exactly the same as it always does when it’s full. The Moon is actually pretty small in the sky — if you don’t believe me, go outside tonight, find the Moon, and hold your thumb up at arm’s length next to it; it’ll easilycover the Moon entirely (my thumb is 2 – 3 times wider than the Moon). A small change in its size is something that’s really hard to see.​
To be specific, according to Fourmilab, the Moon will be 356,953 kilometers from Earth when it’s full. However, last month, on April 7, when it was full it was about 358,313 km away. That’s a difference of 1400 km, less than 1%. So really, the size of the full Moon this weekend won’t be any different than it was last month, and no one was writing about it then. And to show I’m not being biased, take a look at when the Moon was full near apogee — the most distant point in its orbit. That’ll happen in late November of 2012, when it’ll be at a distance of 406,364 km. That’s still only a difference of less than 14%.
That’s a pretty small change, not enough to notice by eye. To see the difference in this weekend’s full Moon, you’d need to take a picture and compare its size to how it looks at some other full Moon. The picture above shows that pretty well (click to enlunenate). You can see the difference between perigee and apogee Moons there easily, but that’s because the Moons are side-by-side. This weekend, with the rising Moon all by itself in the sky, you have nothing to compare it to. It’ll look the same as it always does (and don’t confuse the rising Moon looking huge due to the Moon Illusion with this Supermoon silliness).
That hasn’t stopped some news venues touting this as a "Supermoon". I’m seeing it on websites, on Twitter, and getting email about it, and like I said, it’s irritating (and I’ll add the idea for this whole as well as the term "Supermoon" were started by an astrologer, so draw your own conclusions there). I’m all for encouraging people to go out and look at the Moon, but it shouldn’t be under false pretenses. I mean, c’mon: it’s the Moon! It’s bright and silvery and lovely and you can see features with your naked eye and with a telescope you’ll see tons more!
Even though it’s not super, the Moon isn’t exactly mild mannered either. So if you can, go out and look. Not just this weekend, but any time! Use a telescope, or binoculars, or just go and look anyway. Because it’s pretty, and it’s ours, and it’s always worth a look.
Click to expand...

You are correct:
moon.jpg
The Moon orbits the Earth in an elliptical orbit, i.e. it is not perfectly circular, and so in each orbit there is a closest approach, called “perigee” and a furthest approach, called “apogee”.
At this month’s perigee the Moon will be 356,577km away from Earth, and will indeed be at its closest in almost 20 years. But how close is it compared with other perigees?
Let’s start by comparing it to the Moon’s average distance from the Earth, which is ~385,000km. This perigee will be ~8% closer to the Earth than average. OK, that’s a bit closer, but not significantly so.
What about comparing it to the Moon’s average perigee distance, which is ~364,000km. So this “Supermoon” will be ~2% closer to the Earth than it is most months at perigee. Wow!
So what will this mean to you? Nothing at all. The Moon will be a few percent bigger in the sky, but your eye won’t really be able to tell the difference. It will also be a few percent brighter, but your eye will compensate for this too, so altogether this “Supermoon” will look exactly the same as it always does when it’s full.
As to all of those soothsayers claiming that there will be earthquakes and tidal waves. There very well might be, but they’ll be nothing at all to do with the Moon.
 
Well, that's why I look at what experts are saying when I look into something. You can usually be sure that they are right. And when they are wrong, they have no problem admitting it.
 
Angel of Ioren said:
Well, that's why I look at what experts are saying when I look into something. You can usually be sure that they are right. And when they are wrong, they have no problem admitting it.
Click to expand...
Part of it is media hype. Sometimes they stretch the truth to grab people's interest.
 
I noticed there were two threads about this, so I decided to merge them - as you can see, as usual, this whole thing is being over-hyped - see what Phil Plait has to say about what you'll really see in the sky.
 
Angelo, I am going to make a request with you. From this point forward, in MY FORUM, Dark Matters Radio, I am going to request that you PLEASE inform me PRIOR to doing something like this in the Dark Matters Forum. No real sweat but it simply seems that it would be Good Manners. Thank You.

Decker
 
Sorry - I figured it wasn't a big deal since it was about the same thing. That's why I kept your title and kept it in your section. I apologize.
 
I was a sleepwalker from the age of 4 to 7 apparently, it only ever happened when the moon was full. Once I apparently took apart my 'Kettcar', removed all the Tires, and then took a piss right outside my parents flat at the time, obviously not recalling any of it. Apart from all that, I tend to drink a lot more when there is a full moon. Skoll.
 
And Don, awesome article. There is something on there, even the hardest skeptic has to agree that some of these features aren't natural and look like they were built. By whoever or whatever.
 
Would I get into trouble for saying that I don't see anything out of the ordinary on the Moon? It really is all just speculation and trying to make it fit a hypothesis. Those pictures can easily just be natural formations.
 
Why would you get in trouble Angelo? If that is all you see, hey .. that is all you see.

By the way ... have your eyes checked recently? :)

Decker
 
The Moon was awesome, and I was able to use an old telescope my father in law gave me to see the rings of Saturn. I was surprised we could see them through that really old scope. Even my 9 year old son was fascinated by them.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
In fact, I had my eyes checked this month. I understand that you think there's something to that image, but it's more likely that it's just a natural formation. It's still a really interesting image though.
 
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