Supermoon 0
The moon sure was pretty last night. For once, when an astronomical show was scheduled, we did not get rain.
The term “supermoon” dates to the 1970s, when it was coined by an astrologer. So what, one may ask?
The “what” is the astrological sales pitch.
Hank Campbell at Science 2.0 weighs in:
The supermoon which will occur March 19 will be at its closest to Earth in elliptical orbit (lunar perigee) and closer to Earth than it has been in 18 years. How close is that? Only about 2 degrees so unless astrologers have the kind of measurement instruments no one outside NASA has, they can’t detect it. Which means it isn’t causing huge waves or earthquakes.
He goes on to point out that the moon circles the entire earth (okay, for you nitpickers, the entire earth circles under the moon as the moon rotates the earth or something like that) and if the moon were causing natural disasters, it would be spreading its disasters evenly around the globe–sort of the way mankind does these days.
Bookmark the link for the next time you hear an astrologer pushing a horror-scope.
