Last night I enjoyed viewing a very bright and full moon. Beautiful! And if you thought perhaps it was a little closer and larger than normal, it was (Of course you were!).The moon's average distance from us is about 238,855 miles (384,400 km). Friday night it was just 221,560 miles (356,567 km) away (Wow! 17,295 miles closer). It was 14 percent bigger in our sky and 30 percent brighter than some other full moons during the year. This was the closet the moon has been to Earth in nearly 15 years. So, is there any significances to the moon being so close to Earth, well yes.
Earth's oceans are pulled by the gravity of the moon and the sun. So when the moon is closer, tides are pulled higher. These tides are named perigean tides, because the moon's closest point to Earth is called perigee. The farthest point on the lunar orbit is called apogee. Sorry, back to the point. Beaches are more polluted during full moon, owing to the higher tides. And also people go crazy during full moons, well there is no scientific evidence of that, but it sounds good. More women give birth during a full moon? Well, Shari is still pregnant, so thank goodness for that not being true.
The new theory I would like to discuss is full moon causing earthquakes. Can full moons and the pull of gravity cause earthquakes? Lets start off by using some statistics to make it look as this is very true. Of the only magnitude 9.0 or greater earthquakes in our Earth's recorded history, 3/4 of them occurred during a full moon. The Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami in 2004 occurred at full moon and yes, this was one of the greater than magnitude 9.0, it was a magnitude 9.1. A group of Applied Geologists at Madras University in Chennai, India predicted the 2004 earthquake with minor deviations of 150 km and missed it by 30 minutes. Could they be onto something, perhaps. Russian scientists and others have observed that probability of major earthquakes is high at or 1 to 3 days after full or new moon when the line of gravitation crosses close to the tectonic plates boundaries. These Chennai scientists sent their prediction of the 2004 Sumatran earthquake to several institutions such as US Geological Survey, International Union of 'Geodesy and Geophysics' and NASA, but were not taken seriously and they did not receive any reply.
There is no research to conclude that a "full" moon contributes to earthquakes, however there are indications that a planetary alignment could contribute to tectonic disturbance. I will leave it at this, I will bore you no more with planetary alignments. I am in no way saying that these scientists in India have this thing figured out, but with science we need to continue to research and try to find answers. After all, people thought Nicolaus Copernicus was crazy for thinking that the Earth revolved around the Sun instead of everything revolving around the Earth.
The Earth and the Heavens above are a miraculous creation and we do not know it all, but by research we are able to understand these things better. THINK ABOUT IT!
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning." - Albert Einstein
0 comments:
Post a Comment