# Supermoon is coming! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 3, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752 "2012-05-03T13:28:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/1 "2012-05-03T13:28:57Z")
[This Saturday’s full moon will be a Supermoon](http://www.newser.com/story/145266/supermoon-coming-saturday.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=slate&utm_campaign=greatfinds_rss)- a full moon when the moon is close to perigee, so it will appear larger than an average full moon. Unusually high and low tides are also possible. Tides from last year’s supermoon got blamed for [grounding several ships](http://www.newser.com/story/114586/supermoon-stranded-5-ships-uk-coastguard.html). ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/2 "2012-05-05T09:43:28Z")
I’ve just been outside and it looks neither bigger nor brighter than usual. In fact, it doesn’t even looked fully full. ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/3 "2012-05-05T09:49:23Z")
If Saturday in your location equals Friday night in West Africa it was pretty friggin dazzling! Even with the perennial haze that hangs out here. If it wasn’t full and we have a repeat tonight then it will be really something else tonight! ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/4 "2012-05-05T10:34:30Z")
As with all celestial events in the 21st century, we Minnesotans won’t get to see it due to cloudy skies. Why do the sky gods hate us? ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/5 "2012-05-05T10:39:21Z")
[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/02/the-supermoon-stuff-again/](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/02/the-supermoon-stuff-again/) Brian ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/6 "2012-05-05T12:51:47Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/02/the-supermoon-stuff-again/](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/02/the-supermoon-stuff-again/) > Brian Best comment on that post: “OK, so Supermoon is fiction. What about Batmoon, Spidermoon, and all the other superhero-moons?” ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/7 "2012-05-05T15:00:08Z")
I loved Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Facebook post about it yesterday: [QUOTE=Neil deGrasse Tyson] Moon Lunacy strikes again: The impending Supermoon is to an average full Moon what a 16" Pizza is to a 15" Pizza. So chillax. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/8 "2012-05-05T15:41:28Z")
Its Cinco de Mayo and the liquor stores opened at 9 with their sales & specials. The bars & clubs will be full _all day_. So, of course, every bad action that people do tonight will be due to a super moon. :dubious: “Must be the full moon.” “Is _that_ why you’re throwing up…?” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/9 "2012-05-05T15:49:46Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > I loved Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Facebook post about it yesterday: A 12.88% difference in area isn’t nothing, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/10 "2012-05-05T18:24:21Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/02/the-supermoon-stuff-again/](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/02/the-supermoon-stuff-again/) > > Brian Indeed; the size difference is much more noticeable (easily noticed at a glance) when the Moon is close to the horizon as compared to overhead\*. \*Of course, this is an [optical illusion](http://facstaff.uww.edu/mccreadd/intro9.htm) only seen with our eyes (try taking a picture of it, it will appear to be the same size). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/11 "2012-05-05T19:54:03Z")
I disagree with **BA** ’s assertion that you really can’t tell. A couple years ago I noticed a full Moon on the horizon and was immediately caught by the size of it. I know about the illusion and all that. But I spent a lot of time as a kid out in the back yard with a telescope so I know what the Moon on the horizon looks like. Anyway, when I got home I checked and indeed it was a super Moon. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/12 "2012-05-05T20:08:44Z")
I’m gonna moon it. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/13 "2012-05-05T20:25:06Z")
I think I ought to party like it’s the world’s [last](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inconstant_Moon#Inconstant_Moon) night. You can’t be too careful. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/14 "2012-05-05T20:28:09Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I’m gonna moon it. > > Seriously. Considering the size of my ass, it’s fair to say that I may supermoon it. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/15 "2012-05-05T21:09:21Z")
**jabiru** , it wasn’t quite fully full at 2:35 this morning; the peak is supposed to occur at 1[9:35 Pacific Standard Time](http://www.huliq.com/12092/supermoon-2012-heralding-disaster-or-end-world) tonight. I’m not sure why the article I linked to mentions standard, rather than daylight, time. If you are in Australia or elsewhere in that region, you will miss the exact instant of fullness, yet that shouldn’t matter too much. From [here](http://www.space.com/15474-supermoon-full-moon-2012.html), the apparent brightness of the moon will be 16% greater than the average full moon. Nevertheless, even last night’s moon wasn’t quite full I was able to discern the Rabbit In The Moon, and the Man In The Moon With Sticks–two alternate explanations in folklore for the pattern of light and dark patches visible to the naked eye. I don’t know where the story of the rabbit comes from, or even if there is one. But the rabbit itself was plainly visible last night, the “ears” being formed by the Sea of Fertility and the Sea of Nectar,to the south of the Sea of Tranquility which usually figures as the left eye of the Man in the Moon. By contrast, I am somewhat familiar the story of the man with a bundle of wood, who, according to an old myth, is the man who was > [@Wikipedia](#): > > caught gathering sticks on the sabbath and sentenced by God to death by stoning in the book of Numbers XV.32-36[1][1]. Or > [@Wikipedia](#): > > [as some Germanic traditions held,] he was a man caught stealing from a neighbor’s hedgerow to repair his own. There’s a variant of the gathering-sticks-on-the-sabbath story in which the man says he thought it was Monday, and was therefore told he was being banished to the moon so that every day would be “moon-day” thenceforward. Despite having seen pictures of how one is supposed to see the man carrying sticks, it wasn’t till last night that I was ever able to see him clearly. You can clearly see him walking with the bundle of sticks tied across his back; the bundle is a little lower on his left side. In fact, it was startlingly reminiscent of the old U.S. Walking Liberty silver half-dollars, or for that matter the contemporary one-ounce silver bullion coins that use the same pattern. True, the Man isn’t wearing a filmy dress from some gossamer-like material, but even so, as with the coin, it isn’t hard to imagine that you see the folds of some kind of clothing. So tonight it is truly the Night of the Big Ass Moon. I don’t expect to see much more than I saw last night, but I’ll definitely take advantage of the rare phenomenon and spend some time observing the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/16 "2012-05-05T21:15:11Z")
ETA: Tonight’s large full moon is to be expected, since the new moon on May 20th will be smaller than average, thus allowing for the upcoming [annular eclipse](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=647252). ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/17 "2012-05-06T02:19:56Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > Indeed; the size difference is much more noticeable (easily noticed at a glance) when the Moon is close to the horizon as compared to overhead\*. > > \*Of course, this is an [optical illusion](http://facstaff.uww.edu/mccreadd/intro9.htm) only seen with our eyes (try taking a picture of it, it will appear to be the same size). Cecil did a colum about this. Can’t be bothered to look it up and link it. (Not to mention not having the required mad skillz) ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/18 "2012-05-06T02:37:02Z")
Mission accomplished (glad my backyard is dark and secluded). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/19 "2012-05-06T02:42:28Z")
sigh. Saskatchewan, like Minnesota, is heavily overcast. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752/20 "2012-05-06T04:03:52Z")
Earlier today there was a phone interview with an astronomer about this, on NPR. According to him the whole thing is nothing more than hype, as the degree of closeness/greater size is too minimal to be of any importance as far as the casual observer is concerned. I was surprised to hear that, since I would think that the difference in brightness to be expected–at least 16% according to my earlier link would be noticeable to anyone, unless that figure itself is the product of exaggeration. Granted, it’s the second worst time of the month to look at the moon through a telescope, but as a naked-eye object this full moon, in particular, is well worth looking at. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supermoon-is-coming/620752.md?page=2)