Supermoon shone extra bright
ASSOCIATED PRESS March 20, 2011 10:28PM
The moon rises above Manchester's Trafford shopping centre as clear skies reveal what has been called a "super moon", a natural phenomenon as the moon reaches its closest point to the Earth for about two decades, in Manchester, England, Saturday, March 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
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Updated: March 21, 2011 8:47AM
The full moon this weekend wasn’t just any old full moon. It appeared larger and brighter as it made its closest approach to Earth in 18 years.
Scientists estimate the “supermoon” was 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter at its peak.
Full moons vary in size because of the oval shape of its orbit, with one end closer to Earth. On Saturday, the moon was 221,565 miles away — the closest to Earth since March 1993.
This celestial phenomenon should give people an excuse to take time out for the moon.
Usually, “most people are completely oblivious to its presence,” said Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.
While Saturday’s full moon did brighter than normal, it wasn’t as luminous as the near-supermoon of 2008 when it was higher in the sky, Chester said.
This type of full moon tends to bring a range of high and low tides, but experts say that’s nothing to worry about. Nor is there any truth to the superstition that supermoons cause natural disasters.
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