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[magic]

'Supermoon' Dazzles: Biggest Full Moon in 18 Years Amazes Skywatchers

The largest full moon in more than 18 years – a so-called "supermoon" – did not disappoint eager skywatchers around the world Saturday when it rose, big and bright, into Earth's night sky.

The full moon of March was 221,565 miles (356,575 kilometers) on Saturday, March 19 just 50 minutes after it hit its full phase, making it the biggest and brightest full moon since 1993. The "supermoon" phenomenon occurred because the moon was in its full phase and just 50 minutes past perigee – the point of its orbit that brings it closer to Earth.

This year's biggest full moon also gained notoriety after erroneous claims that it would spark waves of natural disasters around the world.

NASA scientists and others dismissed the fringe lunar disaster claims as nonsense, but did admit the moon should look spectacular. Saturday's full moon appeared 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the smallest full moons Earth sees, though the difference wasn't immediately apparent to some skywatchers.

And for moon lovers graced with clear skies, that's exactly what happened according to overwhelming number of email reports received by SPACE.com from around the world.

In New York City, avid skywatcher Tony Hoffman watched the moon rise from a bedroom window and caught a lucky shot when an airplane passed by.



"It was beautiful as it rose, though it didn’t look particularly large to me, then again, I wasn’t expecting it to," I was fortunate enough to catch a jetliner’s passage in front of it," Hoffman told SPACE.com. "I don’t usually photograph the Moon when it’s so low, but tonight it paid off."

Just outside New York City, in northern New Jersey, the bright moon offered a serene view for me and my family. We caught an amazing view of it low on the horizon, and then stopped at a hilltop vista to see the full moon with the lights and skyscrapers of Manhattan and Newark in the distance.

Big moon rising

Skywatcher Ian Griffin watched the moon as it rose over his village of Brill in the United Kingdom and soaked in the amazing view. In his photos, a huge moon hangs low in the horizon awash in dusky colors.



Griffin wasn't the only one to send SPACE.com an account of a huge rising moon.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., skywatcher Susan Wagener watched as the moon climbed up from behind the horizon, catching a stunning view of the so-called "moon illusion" in which the moon appears to be much larger near the horizon than it does overhead.

"We watched the moon rise last night from our condo on the 23rd floor of Plaza Towers in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan with our 4 1/2-year-old granddaughter, Matilyn Sizemore," Wagener told SPACE.com. "We talked about the moon and how it's different sizes during different times of the month and year. Matilyn's favorite moon is the half-moon she told us."

In one of Wagener's photos, the bright curve of the moon peeks out from behind the horizon, its edge distorted by atmospheric interference. Another image shows the moon hanging low over Grand Rapids.



"For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, a low-hanging moon looks incredibly large when hovering near trees, buildings and other foreground objects," SPACE.com skywatching columnist Joe Rao explained in a recent column. "The fact that the moon will be much closer than usual this weekend will only serve to amplify this strange effect."

Skywatcher Sandy Adams caught similar views of the rising moon over the U.S. capitol of Washington, D.C.



Omar Mendoza, of Hermosillo, Sonora in Mexico, snapped his version of the view to show a reddish-hue moon rising behind hills in the distance.

"So beautiful, my moon," Mendoza told SPACE.com.

The next comparable full moon to offer a view like Saturday's "supermoon" won't occur until Nov. 14, 2016, according to Rao. [Infographic: 'Supermoon' Full Moons Explained]

Supermoon around the world

While SPACE.com received a flood of supermoon accounts, the theme was the same: an amazingly bright moon. While some skywatchers did not immediately notice the moon's larger size on Saturday night, they were all dazzled by its brightness.

"That was sure a beautiful moon," said Abbe Arenson of Sanford, Fla. "The moon while bright and beautifully big, still did not seem larger upon rising (about 8 p.m.) than that night of January 19th when it rose. But as I just went outside, it is very definitely closer to the Earth - usually the moon by this time, 12:45 a.m., is very small up there."

In Tasmania, Australia, observers Marlene and Tim B were worried that cloud cover would obscure their view of the moon. Those fears, it turned out, were unfounded. Marlene's photo shows a moon so bright it overwhelmed the frame.

"What struck my husband and I was that it was difficult to look at. That is how bright it appeared. The glow that emanated from the moon surpassed any full moon that we have observed in a very long time," Marlene told SPACE.com in an email. "It appeared slightly larger; I suppose that was due to the close proximity of the Earth … it was absolutely entrancing. Who would have believed that you could take a picture at night, without using a flash, and get a picture of the moon like that!!!!!"

Another bright view of the moon came from Gina Farthing in Crimora, Va., who snapped photos of the bright moon through some trees that appeared to glow with the lunar backlighting.

"We live in the Blue Ridge mountains, so didn't get to see it at the horizon," Farthing said. "But it did appear slightly larger coming over the mountain."

In Ekaterinburg Russia, photographer Dmitry Benbau took the opportunity to snap a close-up of the moon full disk. The bright and full moon, he said, was "very exciting."

In Shallotte, North Carolina, photographer Tavi Greiner made the supermoon of March a family affair. Greiner's amazing photos show the moon low over the Shallotte River.

"I took my entire family down to the river tonight, to experience tonight's 'Super Moon,' and was pleasantly surprised to see many of the locals out for a look, as well," Greiner told SPACE.com "It was really nice to see so many people looking up!"

Editor's Note: SPACE.com received an overwhelming number of first-hand accounts and photos from readers who made stunning observations of the moon. While it is impossible to recount all of those experiences, you can see many of the photos in our Supermoon 2011 Photo Gallery, with more being added all the time.

You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalik. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.


http://news.yahoo.co...XN1cGVybW9vbjM-

[magic]

To see larger pictures go to http://www.space.com...her-images.html

[magic]

'Supermoon' Lunacy: Does the Moon Make Us Crazy?

With the so-called supermoon upon us, as our only natural satellite makes its largest appearance Saturday (March 19) in more than 18 years, should we expect any lunacy?

For centuries legend has held that full moons make people go crazy. Full moons have been linked in popular culture with a rise in suicides and even epileptic seizures, but there's little to no scientific evidence backing these ideas up. [Learn more about the full moon and the "supermoon"]

However, the moon is a powerful body, its gravity tugging on our oceans to control tides, and its light thought to impact ancient animal behaviors, including the start of one of the largest sex events on Earth (the spawning of corals).

Here's what we do know about the moon's effects, and non-effects, on you and the Earth.

Human nature

Soaring seizures? After hearing patients claim that their seizures were triggered or worsened by the full moon, Dr. Selim Benbadisof the University of South Florida College of Medicine decided to investigate. In research published in 2004 in the journal Epilepsy & Behavior, he detailed a statistical analysis of 770 seizures recorded over three years at Tampa General Hospital. He found that most epileptic seizures (152) were recorded during the moon's last quarter, while decreasing to their lowest number (94) during the full moon. [Photos: Our Changing Moon]

General lunacy: In a review article entitled "Much Ado About the Full Moon," James Rotton of Florida International University and Ivan Kelly of the University of Saskatchewan reviewed 37 studies on links between the phase of the moon (and other lunar factors) and several types of lunacy, including mental hospital admissions, psychiatric disturbances, crisis calls, homicides and other criminal offenses. This meta-analysis, published in 1985 in the journal Psychological Bulletin, found very few statistically significant relationships between the moon and human behavior.

Those studies that do find links, Rotton and Kelly said, are inaccurate, either because they don't take important factors into account (that are responsible for the "lunacy") or they mistake chance events as proof of a lunar effect.

Sleep deprivation: Before modern lighting, the moon played a larger role in people's sleep-wake cycles, and so the light of a full moon may have kept people up at night, leading to sleep deprivation that could have caused other psychological issues, according to one hypothesis detailed in 1999 in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Deviant behaviors: A 2010 study using police, astronomical, and weather data from San Antonio, Texas, found no link to support popular lore that has suggested lunar phase influences the volume of crime reported to the police. The study was published in the Journal of Criminal Justice.

Pet injuries: A 2007 study of nearly 12,000 pet-injury cases at the Colorado State University Veterinary Medical Center revealed emergency-room visits were 23 percent higher for cats and 28 percent higher for dogs on days around the full moon. The culprit: While the study, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, didn't determine a cause, the researchers speculate more people may be out and about with their pets due to the increased light during the full moon, which would raise the odds of pet injuries.

Surgery outcomes: A study published in 2009 in the journal Anesthesiology showed the moon's phase has no effect on the outcome of a heart-related surgery. The results are based on an investigation into surgical outcomes of more than 18,000 patients who underwent so-called elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery, in which blood flow is rerouted through a new artery or vein. The operations were performed at the Cleveland Clinic between 1993 and 2006.

In the wild

In nature, the moon is nothing to scoff at. Animals time routine activities around the light, and the oceans' tides depend on it.

The moon and the sun combine to create tides in Earth's oceans (the gravitational effect is so strong that our planet's crust gets stretched daily by these tidal effects). But tides are large-scale events. They occur because of the difference in the gravitational pull felt on the side of the Earth closest to the moon, compared to the side of the Earth farthest.

Even though our bodies are about up to more than 60 percent water, the difference in the moon's pull on one side of our body compared to the other is much too small to have an impact.

As for animals, the moon does show some effects.

For instance, a few nights each year, after the full moon, hundreds of species of reef-building corals spawn synchronously, releasing their eggs and sperm into the water in one of the biggest moonlight sex events on Earth. Research published in 2007 in the journal Science reveals that in at least in one type of coral called Acropora millepora a light-sensitive gene may be key. This gene seems to be most active during full-moon nights.

And creatures called Azara's owl monkeys, which prowl the forests of Argentina after dark, are more active on full-moon nights, according to a study published in 2010 in the journal PloS ONE. The researchers also found that the morning after those full moons, the tuckered-out monkeys often slept in.

When the moon was new (and so not visible from Earth), however, monkeys hunkered down for the night and waited for morning before moving about. During three lunar eclipses (when the moon moves into the Earth's shadow) during the course of the study, the monkeys also stayed put.

There is evidence that prey are less active during full moons, when the extra light could make them easy pickings for predators. To see if predators follow suit, researchers tracked three wild wolves during full and new moons over four lunar cycles. And indeed, the wolves traveled significantly less during the full compared with the new moons, according to the research detailed in 2006 in the journal Behavioral Processes.


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[magic]

[soap]

Great pics. The moon didn't look that big from here.

[magic]

In the night when Supermoon happened, our sky were cloudy so I didn't manage to see it But I've seen it last night. It looked very bright and a little bit bigger or even closer as usual. I took my cam and looked through the zoom, I almost could see the craters I wanted to take a proper pic with as much zoom as I could get on my com with all the zooms I had lol but after I got a cat to another room so he wouldn't jump off the opened window (the cages is not put on in there) and managed to open window the moon was already behind the tree

[soap]

Evil cats

[Sharon007]

I seen this moon yesterday evening the sky was bright and the moon was red just like in one of the pics that were posted above.