15 Minute Science -- It's Only A Supermoon

Welcome Kostronomers! Cool news for those with their ears to the ground and eyes to the sky. This week not only gave us the brightest Venus it will give us a super moon on Saturday. Tomorrow, May 5th at 11:35pm the universe will proudly present 2012's the largest appearing moon of 2012. Jump the perigee and I'll see you on the dark side.

Tomorrow's full moon will appear a full 16% brighter and 14% larger. This is because the moon will be at its closest point (~222,000 miles) in its elliptical orbit around the earth. A Supermoon or, alternatively and probably more correctly, a perigee moon is not a particularly rare event since it orbits the Earth in about 27.3. The last Supermoon occurred in March of 2011. Lunar perigee does mean higher tides. Tidal forces are about 42% greater than at apogee (the orbial position farthest from Earth). Tomorrow ought to be a banner night for Kossacks. I haven't noticed any increased lunacy from Republicans but we should keep a lookout tomorrow, I'm sure one of them will demonstrate their lunacy once again. Phil Plait of Discover's BadAstronomy blog offers a view of the Moon for every hour of 2012 (above). The pictures were taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Launched in 2009 it studies the topology of the Moon and as a bonus returned the first images of the remnants of the Apollo landings. The rocking back and forth seen in the video is known as libration, which is the oscillating motion of an orbiting body. There you have about 5 minutes worth of science. Go out tomorrow and spend 10 checking out the supermoon.