There was a lot of hype this week over the supermoon of 2012.  Facebook and Twitter were flooded with posts and pictures.  Why do people make such a fuss over a full moon?  I will show you why!  Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Pisa, Italy

Florida

Unknown

If you know who took the above “unknown” picture please let us know so we can give them credit for it.

The above pictures are just a few of the hundreds I viewed over the past 2 days.  They stood out to me as the most beautiful.

What is a supermoon?  What makes it so super? The term supermoon was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979.  It occurs when a full moon is closest to Earth(within 90% of) in orbit.  The term for this is perigee.  The Associated Press reported the Moon was at its closest, 221,802 miles, at 11:34 EDT.

I got a good shot at the supermoon last night.

Georgia

My friends from the U.K. were not so lucky.  They had a lot of clouds that prevented them from seeing the supermoon and the meteor shower.

There are an average of 4-6 supermoons a year.  Not all of them are as bright as this year’s supermoon.  The supermoon of 2013 will not be so bright.  The Moon is not expected to come as close as it did this year.  However, August 10, 2014 promises to be a show!

Just as a full moon has an effect on the tides, a supermoon will have an even greater effect.  Tides will be high over the next few days.  Some conspiracy theorists believe supermoons have an effect on Earth’s weather.  A great example is the earthquake in Japan in 2011.  It occurred around the supermoon of 2011.  Is this just a coincidence?  I will leave that for you to decide.  Here is a list of natural disasters that occurred around a supermoon:  2011 earthquake of Christchurch New Zealand, Hurricane Katrina, 2004 tsunami of Indonesia, and the devastating earthquate of 2010 in Haiti.

I am undecided as to whether or not the supermoon has a hand in these natural disasters.  So far the supermoon of 2012 has not been blamed for any disasters.  Let us hope it stays that way!

I am excited to join IN THE KNOW!  Hope you come back to read more science news in the future.

Sandra