Charmed By The Super Moon

The biggest full moon of the year,also known as “Super Moon", rose into the night sky Saturday to the delight of sky observers around the world.

Picture Taken From: http://www.rsvlts.com/2012/05/06/the-super-moon-rises-20-high-quality-photos/

 A Super Moon happens when the moon’s elliptical orbit swings it closest to the Earth,” said senior scientist from the Russian Pulkovo observatory, Sergey Smirnov.  “Every year there are 13 new moons and 13 full moons, occasionally producing some exceptional spectacles. The super-sized moon was the result of the moon being at a point nearest to the Earth.


Observers were able to distinguish craters and other lunar features in clearer detail than normal. NASA says the super full moon appears about fourteen per cent larger and thirty per cent brighter than other full moons in 2012. 

A super full Moon can bring tides that are higher than normal due to larger tidal force acting on earth. The effect can be amplified by local geography, but only by about six inches.

Super-full moons occur about once a year on average. The best time to look is when the Moon is near the horizon. That is when illusion mixes with reality to produce a truly stunning view.

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It has been argued that the Earth is subjected to natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic activity within 3 days of a supermoon. This is due to the Moon's increased gravitational force acting on the earth.  Speculations have moved the estimation  to within 1 or 2 weeks of a supermoon to suggest a causal relationship with specific natural disasters such as the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. 

However,  studies have reported a weak correlation between lunar activity and shallow, very low intensity earthquakes. No evidence has been found of any correlation of super moon to the major earthquakes