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Dude - your moon is HUGE! 'Supermoon' Alert: Biggest Full Moon of 2012 Occurs This Weekby SPACE.com Staff
Date: 30 April 2012 Time: 01:54 PM ET
Skywatchers take note: The biggest full moon of the year is due to arrive this weekend.
The moon will officially become full Saturday (May 5) at 11:35 p.m. EDT. And because this month's full moon coincides with the moon's perigee — its closest approach to Earth — it will also be the year's biggest.
The moon will swing in 221,802 miles (356,955 kilometers) from our planet, offering skywatchers a spectacular view of an extra-big, extra-bright moon, nicknamed a supermoon.
And not only does the moon's perigee coincide with full moon this month, but this perigee will be the nearest to Earth of any this year, as the distance of the moon's close approach varies by about 3 percent, according to meteorologist Joe Rao, SPACE.com's skywatching columnist. This happens because the moon's orbit is not perfectly circular.
This month's full moon is due to be about 16 percent brighter than average. In contrast, later this year on Nov. 28, the full moon will coincide with apogee, the moon's farthest approach, offering a particularly small and dim full moon.
Though the unusual appearance of this month's full moon may be surprising to some, there's no reason for alarm, scientists warn. The slight distance difference isn't enough to cause any earthquakes or extreme tidal effects, experts say.
However, the normal tides around the world will be particularly high and low. At perigee, the moon will exert about 42 percent more tidal force than it will during its next apogee two weeks later, Rao said.
The last supermoon occurred in March 2011.
To view this weekend's supermoon to best effect, look for it just after it rises or before it sets, when it is close to the horizon. There, you can catch a view of the moon behind buildings or trees, an effect which produces an optical illusion, making the moon seem even larger than it really is.
We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves. | |
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By St. Boogar and all the saints at the backside door of Purgatory! | |
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why do wolves love the moon so much? are they lunatics? | |
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[img:$uid]http://www.agirlsworld.com/rachel/beat-street/reviews/pix/et20-1.jpg[/img:$uid] | |
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We were flying one night and the full moon was just rising over the horizon and it was a brilliant orange.
It was so big and so bright that at first we thought there had been a nuclear explosion on the ground. | |
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JoeTyler said:
why do wolves love the moon so much? are they lunatics? Moments like this where the root/meaning of a word stand out are priceless. | |
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We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves. | |
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Thin Lizzy cover, though. | |
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Lookin' forward to it. | |
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Cerebus said:
Lookin' forward to it. I started the thread with you in mind. We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves. | |
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lupine lunatics and aren't they groovy | |
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This Saturday is my daughter's 19th birthday.
I'm going to make sure she sees this.
(Also, I can't help but think of the movie "Moonstruck" and think of this as Cosmo's moon.) I'm firmly planted in denial | |
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Well that's because you're awesome. | |
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Thanks for the information.
Wonder if Mach will be out there looking at it. There came a time when the risk of remaining tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. Anais Nin. | |
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Folklore holds that all kinds of wacky things happen under the light of a full Moon. Supposedly, hospital admissions increase, the crime rate ticks upward, and people behave strangely. The idea that the full Moon causes mental disorders was widespread in the Middle Ages. Even the word "lunacy," meaning "insanity," comes from the Latin word for "Moon." The majority of modern studies, however, show no correlation between the phase of the Moon and the incidence of crime, sickness, or human behavior. The truth is, the Moon is less influential than folklore would have us believe.
Idk, I just know I'll find it stunningly beautiful. Maybe it's just human nature to get or feel a little loopy when faced with something stunningly beautiful. | |
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THEY'RE COOOOOOMMING!!!!! Change it one more time.. | |
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You know, I just realized this coincides with a party weekend. Folks are going to go so nuts. I need to have my margarita in one hand, my shrimp cocktail in the other, sit back on my front porch that night and just watch. | |
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i'm kind of disappointed ~ misleading thread title!!!!!! and i fell 4 it and got a funny pic 2 post
what a waste of crack!!!!!
mailto:www.iDon'tThinkSo.com.Uranus | |
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I was underwhelmed... By St. Boogar and all the saints at the backside door of Purgatory! | |
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Tonight you all, tonight. After a couple of shots it'll be impressive. | |
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I can't wait til' dusk... I should be good and drunk then and I'll compare moon sizes. | |
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it's torrential downpour time here in minneapolis. don't know if it will clear in time to see the moon tonight... | |
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was it over australia last night or will it b here 2night??????
mailto:www.iDon'tThinkSo.com.Uranus | |
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The moon was pretty large where I live last night, but not as large as the OP picture, and orange. It was also large in April. Very nice and illuminating. | |
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It was overcast here. We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves. | |
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I told my mother to look at the moon and she didn't know what I was talking about and then she was out walking the dog and the moon rose over the horizon and she said she'd never seen such a thing before - and then I forgot to go look myself a whore in sheep's clothing | |
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It was pretty impressive here this morning. Not sure how it looked any other time because I had to leave the house to see it. It was too low and in the wrong spot. | |
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Its too cloud here to see it With Love there is no Death | |
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It was beautiful....although it was a somewhat cloudy night. I was in a small historic town staying at a 150 year old (supposedly haunted) hotel and the moon couldn't have been any more perfect in that setting.
Of course, the pic I took does not do it any justice.
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