Thursday 17 March 2011

Moon to look bigger on MARCH 18 & 19th!!!

On March 19, the moon will swing around Earth more closely than it has in the past 18 years, lighting up the night sky from just 221,567 miles (356,577 kilometers) away. On top of that, it will be full. And one astrologer believes it could inflict massive damage on the planet.
Richard Nolle, a noted astrologer who runs the website astropro.com, has famously termed the upcoming full moon at lunar perigee (the closest approach during its orbit) an “extreme supermoon.”
When the moon goes super-extreme, Nolle says, chaos will ensue: Huge storms, earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters can be expected to wreak havoc on Earth. (It should be noted that astrology is not a real science, but merely makes connections between astronomical and mystical events.)
But do we really need to start stocking survival shelters in preparation for the supermoon? [Photos: Our Changing Moon]
The question is not actually so crazy. In fact scientists have studied related scenarios for decades. Even under normal conditions, the moon is close enough to Earth to make its weighty presence felt: It causes the ebb and flow of the ocean tides.
The moon’s gravity can even cause small but measureable ebbs and flows in the continents, called “land tides” or “solid Earth tides,” too. The tides are greatest during full and new moons, when the sun and moon are aligned either on the same or opposite sides of the Earth.
According to John Vidale, a seismologist at the University of Washington in Seattle and director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, particularly dramatic land and ocean tides do trigger earthquakes. “Both the moon and sun do stress the Earth a tiny bit, and when we look hard we can see a very small increase in tectonic activity when they’re aligned,” Vidale told Life’s Little Mysteries, a sister site to SPACE.com.
At times of full and new moons, “you see a less-than-1-percent increase in earthquake activity, and a slightly higher response in volcanoes.”
The effect of tides on seismic activity is greatest in subduction zones such as the Pacific Northwest, where one tectonic plate is sliding under another. William Wilcock, another seismologist at the University of Washington, explained: “When you have a low tide, there’s less water, so the pressure on the seafloor is smaller. That pressure is clamping the fault together, so when it’s not there, it makes it easier for the fault to slip.”
According to Wilcock, earthquake activity in subduction zones at low tides is 10 percent higher than at other times of the day, but he hasn’t observed any correlations between earthquake activity and especially low tides at new and full moons. Vidale has observed only a very small correlation.
What about during a lunar perigee? Can we expect more earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on March 19, when the full moon will be so close?
The moon’s gravitational pull at lunarperigee, the scientists say, is not different enough from its pull at other times to significantly change the height of the tides and thus the likelihood of natural disasters. [Infographic: Phases of the Moon Explained]
“A lot of studies have been done on this kind of thing by USGS scientists and others,” John Bellini, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey, told Life’s Little Mysteries. “They haven’t found anything significant at all.”
Vidale concurred. “Practically speaking, you’ll never see any effect of lunar perigee,” he said. “It’s somewhere between ‘It has no effect’ and ‘It’s so small you don’t see any effect.’”
The bottom line is, the upcoming supermoon won’t cause a preponderance of earthquakes, although the idea isn’t a crazy one.
“Earthquakes don’t respond as much to the tides as you’d think they would. There should actually be more of an effect,” said Vidale.
Most natural disasters have nothing to do with the moon at all. The Earth has a lot of pent up energy, and it releases it anytime the buildup gets too great. The supermoon probably won’t push it past the tipping point, but we’ll know for sure, one way or the other, by March 20.

On March 19th, 2011, on earth, the night sky is going be brighter as a supermoon is coming our way. And like always it has given life to the everlasting battle between Astronomers and conspiracy theorist.

Although astronomers has ruled out any untoward incidents to happen because of this celestial phenomenon and advised everyone to enjoy the unusual event, conspiracy theorists believe that this supermoon will create ‘moonageddon’ and may start off series of natural disasters. US astrologist Richard Nolle said that supermoons are a result of the moon coming closer to earth and rather than taking a circular orbit, it takes a slight elliptical one. This supermoon phenomenon happens every 10 to 20 years.

The modern world had its share of this rare phenomenon in 1955, 1974, 1992 and 2005.

On 19th March, distance from earth to moon will be 356,577 kilometers even closer than it has been in 1992.

In an interview given to ABC radio, Nolle said that supermoon is associated with strong storms, very high tides, and earthquakes. The most recent supermoon on 18th February this year had an impact on earth and it is the supermoon which has caused the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. He has also told that 1948 Ashgabat earthquake in Turkmenistan, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991 and 2005's Hurricane Katrina in the United States: all have one thing in common and its periods of supermoon activity.
other source says
It’s going to be a special moment for skygazers as after 18 years the moon will appears bigger. It is said that on March 19. Moon will be closets to the earth and will look 16% larger than usual.

M P Birla Planetarium Director, Mr D. P. Duari, said that last time it was on March 8,1993was the full moon day when moon was closest to the earth.

Mr. Duari explained that moon goes round in an elliptic orbit around the earth which makes it come closer to the blue planet and the closest point being termed as the perigee.

He also said that usually the moon is 3, 84,440 km away from the earth but during perigee the distance can close to around 3,57,000 km.

He further mentioned that on March 19, moon will be at its perigee in addition to the full moon and the distance counted between earth and moon would be around 3,56,577 km, which is the closest in the past 18 years.

He refuse all rumors which supports that closeness of moon to the earth will cause severe storms, earthquakes, volcanoes and natural disasters as decrease in the distance is very small and there is nothing to fear about moon coming close to the earth.

Although he accepts that there would be marginal increase in the heights of tides but it does not means that it will lead to some big natural calamity.


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