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| full moon |
This weekend, skies permitting, will be quite a lunar show that only happens, well, a little less often than once in a Blue Moon.On March 19, the moon will be at its closest point to Earth (called "perigree") as it makes its elliptical orbit around our planet. No biggie, that happens every month. But what makes this month so special is it is coinciding just 50 minutes before the full moon.
What does that mean? The moon will not only be at its closest point to the Earth but also at its fullest, making for what many will see is a large full moon, although really it's not all *that* much larger. According to NASA (science.nasa.gov), the moon looks about 14% larger at its closest point then when it's at its farthest point of its monthly orbit.These near perfect confluence of factors happen about once every 18 years, last occurring in March of 1993, NASA said.The moon might look artificially super large when it is on the horizon as it's both setting and rising just before and after sunset. That's due to the mysterious moon illusion where full moons near the horizon apparently trick the human eye into making it look larger than it is -- an effect that will be enhanced this weekend. Scientists have yet to explain how the illusion works, but suffice to say "object on horizon may appear close than it really is."
Does this mean we're doomed?
Several rumors are abound that super moons will create widespread natural disasters on Earth. But NASA says there is no correlation. The super moon passed in 1993 with nary a problem, they also point out. As we mentioned earlier the moon is this close to the planet every month, it's just a coincidence this time around it's coming at full moon.
Now, according to the mental health experts at the healthieryou.com Web site, while the idea that the phases of the moon can affect behavior goes back a long time, even to the origins of the words lunatic and lunacy, “on the whole, there is not much evidence to support his view.”
The Web site says Australian and English studies found no links between the moon and aggressive behavior, anxiety or depression.
| Meridian Passing | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Moonrise | Moonset | Time | Altitude | Distance | Illuminated | Phase |
| (km) | |||||||
| 18 Mar 2011 | - 18:03 | 05:37 - | |||||
| 19 Mar 2011 | - 18:59 | 06:30 - | 00:17 | 89.4° | 357,833 | 98.0% | |
| 20 Mar 2011 | - 19:55 | 07:23 - | 01:11 | 83.0° | 356,606 | 99.8% | Full at 02:10 |
| 21 Mar 2011 | - 20:52 | 08:16 - | 02:06 | 76.9° | 357,522 | 98.3% | |
| 22 Mar 2011 | - 21:51 | 09:12 - | 03:02 | 71.5° | 360,466 | 93.6% | |
| 23 Mar 2011 | - 22:50 | 10:09 - | 04:00 | 67.2° | 365,095 | 86.3% | |
| 24 Mar 2011 | - 23:49 | 11:07 - | 04:59 | 64.4° | 370,892 | 77.1% | |
Ps: Malaysia will experience the super full moon on 20 March 02.10 am .according to table.
with love,
Affy Ronan
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