On my way into work this morning I noticed that the tide was about two feet higher than normal high tide in the channel near Rowes Wharf in Boston. Some navigation lights on piers were even underwater. I was wondering what the heck was going on, now I know.
I suspected as much. So the headline "Moon closest since 1993" becomes "Moon .05% closer than last year." This example explains a lot of what's wrong with the press. Their problems are deeper than a broken business model.
Not really. If I did understand the details - due to the egg -shaped orbit, the distance at which moon is closest to earth (perigee) over the month/year varies every period. The current event is additionally happening over a full moon, which brings extra effects on its visible size, brightness and tides on the sea.
"today's event will be the closest lunar perigee since 1993, at 221,560 miles (356,566 kilometers) from Earth."
On average, the Moon is 378,000 km away, and at furthest, it is 399,300 km away from the Earth's surface. So, yesterday's full moon was 6% closer than the average.
Interestingly enough I was planning on emailing your company already! Don't see an email in the profile but you can reach me @ benporterfield on gmail. I'll try to send a mail to the contact us page and maybe I'll reach you - we should go surf!
Was just telling my coworker about this and we talked about the optical illusion of how the moon looks bigger on the horizon than straight overhead. I always thought it was because the atmosphere acts like a lens, but it turns out I was wrong. Its just all in our brains. Interesting reference link to the phenomenon http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/top5_myths_020903-2.ht...
