Saturday's 'Supermoon' Won't Destroy Earth http://bit.ly/JWfJKk
 |
| An enhanced image of the moon taken with the NOAO Mosaic CCD camera at Kitt Peak National Observatory, and superimposed on a separate image of the sky. CREDIT: NOAO/AURA/NSF |
UPDATE: For the latest on Saturday's "supermoon" and meteor shower, read our latest story here: 'Supermoon' Tonight! Tips to See Year's Biggest Full Moon, Meteor Shower
Astronomers call it perigee-syzygy; the rest of us call it "supermoon." Either way, the alignment of the sun and moon will coincide with the moon's closest approach to Earth on Saturday (May 5), resulting in the biggest full moon of the year. But don't worry, it won't break Earth.
Saturday's supermoon will be especially super. Richard Nolle, the astrologer who coined the term "supermoon," defined it as a full moon that occurs within 12 hours of lunar perigee, or the point in the moon's slightly non-circular monthly orbit when it swings closest to our planet. On Saturday, the timing of the two events will be almost perfect: the moon will reach its perigee distance of 221,802 miles (356,955 kilometers) — the closest lunar perigee of 2012, in fact — at 11:34 p.m. Eastern Time, and it will fall in line with the sun (thereby becoming full) just one minute later.
Thus, our satellite will loom even larger than the supermoon of March 19, 2011, when perigee and full moon fell 50 minutes apart. Nonetheless, just as last year's supermoon passed by without triggering any of the earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and chaos that were predicted by some corners of the Internet, this year's event will almost certainly be similarly tame. Seismologists have found no evidence to believe that supermoons heighten seismic activity — at least not over and above the effects of run-of-the-mill moons
