2Bwacco
03-18-2011, 02:37 PM
..."Saturday with a full moon that will be bigger and brighter than normal..." No scientific facts to back this up -- my personal supposition -- what if?? ...the moon affects the tides...what about earthquakes?
'Super-moon' comes Saturday; spring arrives Sunday
<!-- MAIN PHOTO -->https://www.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=SR&Date=20110318&Category=ARTICLES&ArtNo=110319466&Ref=AR&Profile=1350&MaxW=600&border=0 (https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110318/ARTICLES/110319466/1350?p=all&tc=pgall#)
PD FILE, 2008
A full moon rises over Fountaingrove in 2008.
<!-- BYLINE -->
By BOB NORBERG ([email protected])
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
<!-- PUBDATE -->Published: Friday, March 18, 2011 at 1:05 p.m.
It's going to be a busy weekend, astronomically speaking, with a “super-moon” on Saturday and the vernal equinox that heralds the arrival of spring on Sunday.
<!-- /GRAY BOX ARTICLE CONTENT-->The moon comes closest to earth once every 18 years, thanks to the sun's gravitational pull, and that event coincides Saturday with a full moon that will be bigger and brighter than normal.
“The immediate name is the super-moon, and it is a few percent bigger than the usual full moon,” said George Loyer, president of the Robert Ferguson Observatory, Valley of the Moon Observatory Association. “It is an interesting thing to know about, but you would have to measure it. It will not look appreciably bigger.”
Forecasters say while there may be some break in the weather, the full moon likely will not be visible through the storm clouds this weekend.
Technically, the moon will be about 221,565 miles away at perigee, as it is called, compared to apogee, when it is at its farthest, 251,880 miles, from the earth.
However, all perigrees and apogees are not equal. While in its orbit, the moon is still subject to the gravitational pull of the sun that slightly alters the orbit in cycles of about 18.5 years, Loyer said.
“Somebody who is an observer of the sky might well notice the difference,” said Ed Megill, director of the Santa Rosa Junior College Planetarium. “But it is not going to be anything that will jump out at you, so to speak.”
The moon, which is a quarter the size of the earth, will also exert its strongest influences on the ocean during this time, causing some of the highest tides.
There will be a 6.2 foot high tide at Bodega Bay at 12:29 a.m. Monday, a 6.3 foot high tide at 1:08 a.m. Tuesday and a 6.2 foot high tide at 1:52 a.m. Wednesday.
The vernal equinox, when the day has equal amounts of daylight and darkness, occurs at 4:21 p.m. on Sunday when the sun passes the equator into the Northern Hemisphere.
“The sun is up longer, it gets to be at a higher angle and it is start of our warmer weather,” Megill said. “They call it the beginning of spring.”
'Super-moon' comes Saturday; spring arrives Sunday
<!-- MAIN PHOTO -->https://www.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=SR&Date=20110318&Category=ARTICLES&ArtNo=110319466&Ref=AR&Profile=1350&MaxW=600&border=0 (https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110318/ARTICLES/110319466/1350?p=all&tc=pgall#)
PD FILE, 2008
A full moon rises over Fountaingrove in 2008.
<!-- BYLINE -->
By BOB NORBERG ([email protected])
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
<!-- PUBDATE -->Published: Friday, March 18, 2011 at 1:05 p.m.
It's going to be a busy weekend, astronomically speaking, with a “super-moon” on Saturday and the vernal equinox that heralds the arrival of spring on Sunday.
<!-- /GRAY BOX ARTICLE CONTENT-->The moon comes closest to earth once every 18 years, thanks to the sun's gravitational pull, and that event coincides Saturday with a full moon that will be bigger and brighter than normal.
“The immediate name is the super-moon, and it is a few percent bigger than the usual full moon,” said George Loyer, president of the Robert Ferguson Observatory, Valley of the Moon Observatory Association. “It is an interesting thing to know about, but you would have to measure it. It will not look appreciably bigger.”
Forecasters say while there may be some break in the weather, the full moon likely will not be visible through the storm clouds this weekend.
Technically, the moon will be about 221,565 miles away at perigee, as it is called, compared to apogee, when it is at its farthest, 251,880 miles, from the earth.
However, all perigrees and apogees are not equal. While in its orbit, the moon is still subject to the gravitational pull of the sun that slightly alters the orbit in cycles of about 18.5 years, Loyer said.
“Somebody who is an observer of the sky might well notice the difference,” said Ed Megill, director of the Santa Rosa Junior College Planetarium. “But it is not going to be anything that will jump out at you, so to speak.”
The moon, which is a quarter the size of the earth, will also exert its strongest influences on the ocean during this time, causing some of the highest tides.
There will be a 6.2 foot high tide at Bodega Bay at 12:29 a.m. Monday, a 6.3 foot high tide at 1:08 a.m. Tuesday and a 6.2 foot high tide at 1:52 a.m. Wednesday.
The vernal equinox, when the day has equal amounts of daylight and darkness, occurs at 4:21 p.m. on Sunday when the sun passes the equator into the Northern Hemisphere.
“The sun is up longer, it gets to be at a higher angle and it is start of our warmer weather,” Megill said. “They call it the beginning of spring.”