Fascinating Facts About Supermoon

By: iTopTopics Staff

Supermoon and its fascinating facts

Supermoon at Turret Arch at Arches National Park

Supermoon at Turret Arch - Utah. Source by Arches National Park, photo by Neal Herbert. Licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0

The moon’s orbit around Earth is slightly elliptical so sometimes it is closer and sometimes it’s farther away. When the moon is full as it makes its closest pass to Earth it is known as a supermoon. At perigee — the point at which the moon is closest to Earth — the moon can be as much as 14 percent closer to Earth than at apogee, when the moon is farthest from our planet. The full moon appears that much larger in diameter and because it is larger shines 30 percent more moonlight onto the Earth.

Supermoon happens about once a year and is viewable from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. This year we are super lucky to have three consecutive months to see the supermoon in the fall, from October to December. November 14th, 2016 is when the supermoon “Beaver” shines brightest in the sky. The last time we got a spectacular view of this magnificent lunar phenomenon was back nearly 68 years ago on January 26th, 1948. If you miss out the chance to see it this year, you’d have to wait until November 25th, 2034 to experience it again.

Even though it’s shinning bright in the sky, supermoon has its dark side. Legendary and folk tales claimed the occurrences of blood moon (or supermoon) destroyed lives and brought havocs to the order of nature. Are all the blames on supermoon a fact or just a fiction?

Let’s take a look at some amazing photos taken all over the world by very talented photographers and review the facts about the supermoon as we all call it “Bloodmoon”.

Supermoon would bring a meteor strike leading to the end of the world.

Fact or Fiction?

Supermoon over Washington D.C. Photo by Stan Mouser, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Prophecy Texas pastor John Hagee, author of “Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change," and Irvin Baxter in Plano, Texas both believed the series of occurrences of blood moon is a signal for Doomsday.

NASA has long dismissed the claim that supermoon would cause meteor strike leading to the end of the world. Noah Petro, deputy project scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland said the event is not cause for concern. "The only thing that will happen on Earth during an eclipse is that people will wake up the next morning with neck pain because they spent the night looking up," he said.

So there you have it. It is a fiction! Look up and enjoy the view!

The moon controls female fertility cycle.

Fact or Fiction?

Supermoon rising over Gulf of Corinth, Greece

Photo by Spiros Vathis, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

The ancient astrologers of Babylon and Assyria claimed that: "Woman is fertile during a certain phase of the moon." A British study also found that men's sperm counts significantly increase during their lunar fertility periods.

While the relationship between the moon and our bodies is not well understood, lunar phases have been said to affect other aspects of our lives from our moods to our emotions. The mystery is remained till this day on the intertwined relationship between the menstrual cycle and the lunar cycle.

If you are curious when your lunar fertility phase is, there are websites to provide you with this information based on when you were born and your average menstrual cycle. Your personal lunar phase is repeated every month when the moon is in the exact position in relation to the sun as it was at the time of your birth.

Supermoon drives people lunatic

Fact or Fiction?

Supermoon over Stanley Waterfront, Hong Kong

Photo by Mark Lehmkuhler, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

The term "lunatic" derives from the Latin word lunaticus, which originally referred mainly to epilepsy and madness, as diseases thought to be caused by the moon. Philosophers such as Aristotle and Pliny the Elder argued that the full moon induced insane individuals with bipolar disorder by providing light during nights which would otherwise have been dark, and affecting susceptible individuals through the well-known route of sleep deprivation.Until at least 1700 it was also a common belief that the moon influenced fevers, rheumatism, episodes of epilepsy and other diseases. Even until 1978, the connection of the moon and human’s mood was still held true. University of Miami psychologist Arnold Lieber who wrote the book “The Lunar Effect: Biological Tides and Human Emotions” argued that the moon influenced day-to-day behavior and concluded that homicides increased during the full moon after analyzing Miami’s crime records. Not until 1986, researchers from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada had gathered enough facts to dismiss Lieber’s claim the correlation between lunar phenomena and human behaviors.

So there you have it. It is a fiction after all. Lunar occurrence is not the blame for human emotions or behaviors.

Supermoon causes higher tides.

Fact or Fiction?

Full Beaver Moon (a supermoon) over Isla Vista & UCSB

Photo by Glenn Beltz, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Supermoon is closest to the earth therefore its gravity pull harder on Earth’s oceans than an ordinary full moon. That’s why supermoons create higher-than usual tides called king tides or spring tides and possible coastal flooding around the world. The king tide occurs when the earth, moon, and sun align. Gravity pulls the oceans to their highest tides, causing beach erosion and flooding in the coastal areas.

According the Weather channel, in anticipation, Fort Lauderdale has announced morning and evening road closures at Southeast 12th Street and Cordova Road, which flooded during last month's King tides. High tides and strong winds have been reported in Venice, Italy on Saturday ahead of the supermoon appearance on November 14th, 2016 and brought flooding to the area.

So it is a proven fact that surfers can depend on supermoon for the most thrilling surfing experience of a lifetime. But please take cautionary for high surf advisory.

There may be three supermoon occurrences per full moon cycle.

Fact or Fiction?

Supermoon over Quezon City, Philippines

Photo by Bro. Jeffrey Pioquinto, licensed under CC BY 2.0

It is a true that star gazers might have a chance to see three supermoons in one calendar month or a full moon cycle. Scientists explains that the phenomenon occurs when the moon is halfway through the cycle to be close to apogee and the new moons immediately appearing before and after can be supermoons.

Moon or Supermoon can be viewed larger in the winter months.

Fact or Fiction?

Supermoon over New York City, New York.

Photo by Nicole Beauchamp, licensed under CC BY 2.0

It is a fact. Winter brings the moon closer to earth. Because the Earth is closest to the sun during the winter months, the gravitational force pulls the moon closer to Earth.

Here are some more amazing photos from star-and-moon gazers capturing the magnificent supermoon: