Is the Japanese earthquake the latest natural disaster to have been caused by a 'supermoon'?

[Renew Deal]

The powerful tsunami that today slammed into Japan's eastern coast comes just two days after warnings that the movement of the moon could trigger unpredictable events on Earth.

Astrologers predicted that on March 19 - a week tomorrow - the so-called 'supermoon' will be closer to Earth than at any time since 1992, just 221,567 miles away, and that its gravitational pull will bring chaos to Earth.

Others on the Internet have predicted it will cause further catastrophes such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Coming just three weeks after the quake which devastated Christchurch in New Zealand killing hundreds, this latest disaster will only add fuel to their fire.
<snip>

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1365225/Japan-earthquake-tsunami-Did-supermoon-cause-todays-natural-disaster.html

People have said it before and I'll say it again. It's time for the moon to go. Obama was right when he bombed the moon. I think it's now time for the world to strike the moon again!

[tridim]

1. Earthquakes happen all the time.

That's how the planet works.

[Myrina]

2. Let's hope it passes closely enough that all the Fundies and

Republicans can hitch a ride, consider themselves "Raptured" and leave the rest of us the hell alone.

[hobbit709]

3. I thought you were talking about Rush

Has about the same amount of validity. And I don't remember any major catastrophes in 1992

[Johonny]

4. tides come in, tides go out

you can't explain that!

[Renew Deal]

8. Nice Post Bill O'Reilly!

:D

[cutlassmama]

43. ....

:rofl:

[malaise]

45. Too good

:rofl:

[DavidDvorkin]

5. What's really getting some flakes excited is that perigee coincides with the full moon

Very alarming to people who think that the waxing and waning of the moon is caused by the moon actually changing size.

Every time I realize that there are people in the industrialized world who think that, I'm amazed all over again.

[outerSanctum]

6. When will we FINALLY do something about that friggin' moon!

n/t

[Zhade]

7. LOL, astrology. Some people are so stupid.

(Not you.)

[Angry Dragon]

9. If you take the moon away then the tides stop

and then o'reilly can not explain god and then his head explodes........

[originalpckelly]

10. Actually, that's no moon it's a space station.

:rofl:

[originalpckelly]

11. I know I'm fat, but no one needs to start blaming earthquakes on my ass, OK?

I've got enough on my plate! Which might be the reason I'm so fat.

[OneGrassRoot]

14. ...

:spray:

:rofl:

:hi:

[originalpckelly]

16. When people post weird shit like this...

the only thing you can do to make it worth the bandwidth on DU is to make it a big ass joke.

If anyone else has jokes, please do post them! :P

[charlie]

12. Yeah, tell Rush to face south when he bends over

We've had enough of these "crack of dawn" disasters.

[originalpckelly]

13. Look in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, NO it's SUPERMOON!

:rofl:

[cali]

15. Astrologers? Really? What bullshit.

[originalpckelly]

19. It's actually a very precise science...

of conning you out of your money. :P

[CommonSensePLZ]

34. I think the OP meant astroNOMERS

This might check out, I've seen documentaries about how the Moon's gravitational pull can trigger earthquakes.

And despite this 'new zodiac' stuff I like astrology.

[muriel_volestrangler]

40. No, the OP did mean astrologers - remember, the so-called 'supermoon' hasn't happened yet

This is a story that UK tabloids (the Daily Mail and The Sun) have run, because they make millions - literally - off astrology; they advertise premium rate phonelines to call, and tens of thousands do. So they are happy to report what an astrologer says, in the certain knowledge that their more gullible readers will pay attention. The unusually close perigee of the moon (about 1 or 2% closer than usual) which will happen in a week's time has, of course, not caused anything; but, to an astrologer, that needn't matter - they're not depending on gravitational effects, just a bunch of hand-waving and superstition, and they're quite happy to claim that things in the future have effects now.

At the moment, the moon will be pretty near its average distance from us, since it's about a quarter revolution off perigee; and the gravitational pull of the moon is also roughly at right angles to that of the Sun (because it's abotu a week before a full moon), which means the tidal stress on the Earth is pretty much at a minimum at the moment.

AstroNOMERS will tell you this story is complete bollocks.

[nykym]

17. The earth is a living organism

it is just trying to rid itself of a parasitic infestation (us)!

[originalpckelly]

20. I prefer to think of the Earth as a superorgasm...

It's just really into S&M shit. That's why there are so many natural disasters!

[SaveAmerica]

48. I read that as 'the earth is having an orgasm', that explains it all. She's a screamer.

[CommonSensePLZ]

52. Um, esoteric?

I think quakes are normal. We know that Venus, Jupiter's moon Io are both seismically active themselves. Io even has VOLCANOES that work very differently than our own.

But believe what you like.

[Maru Kitteh]

58. THE MOON is a PARASITE! It MUST BE KILLED! It just takes and takes - orbiting all the time

off of OUR gravity and it gives so little back.

Damn moon.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. I guess the moon also created these things

[originalpckelly]

21. While sourcing information from astrologer is one of the funniest things I've seen...

the ideas that gravitational forces not coming from the planet/moon itself can have impacts on the geology of a body. This is seen around Jupiter with one of it's moons. I cannot remember which one, but I could probably look it up if you were interested.

Now, that's a moon in orbit around a huge planet like Jupiter, but it is not altogether insane to think there is a relationship between earthquake swarms, some volcanic activity, and a moon of a planet, if the moon is sufficiently large enough, as the Earth's moon is.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. Io, also Callistes to a point

it does have effects on the earth, see tides. But it does not have tectonic effects...

Io turns itself over every so often and the volcanoes from Jupiter are spectacular.

Now what is the mass of Io? What ist the mass of Jupiter?

What is the mass of Earth? What is the mass of the moon?

[Diclotican]

47. originalpckelly

originalpckelly

The Planet, or moon if you want to say it that way, that the imense gravitation pull from Jupiter is making someting of a oddball in our solar system is Io. A planet who is full of volcans...

But it is a difference between IO and Europe (two moons around Jupiter) and the Earth/Moon system.. The moon is halft the size of the Earth (roughly) and in some way some have been thinking about our companion out there, as a double planet system.. A moon who in most of our history, from the early dawn of earth, have been our companion, and one of the first places we was looking to, out there in the universe.. Withouth our little moon, our planet would have had a whole different climate, and posible not be able to substain life as it does today...

It is also rumored that in a 200-400 million years time, our little companion wil go on its own, out in the solar system, becouse of the gravitational pull from Earth-Moon is pushing the little moon out a cm or two every year... And it is also proven, by geological means, that the Moon have been far more closer to our planet, many million years ago...

But in the meantime, our little friend, and companion wil be there... And we wil se moon, and wonder, what to do... As we allways do

Diclotican

[Atman]

22. Uh, 1992 wasn't exactly a long time ago...why didn't we see chaos then?

Shit happens.

[petronius]

24. Um, because the government covered it up? Do you really the TPTB want us to know

how serious the danger is? Otherwise, we'd all be clamoring to get onto their secret escape spaceships... :shrug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. You mean I missed the great Tinuana quake?

(I guess all those plans were not for naught)

[Edweird]

26. Only a nutbag would think that. Everybody knows it's HAARP.

[charlie]

28. Exactamundo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmPEeYAuQJI

[uppityperson]

27. It was a tough decision, unrec for wtf or rec for wtf.

I like your comments at the end but sorry, unrec for the article won out. Wanted to let you know I do like your comments

[Renew Deal]

30. lol

Thanks! :rofl:

[SidDithers]

29. K&R...

this might be the best earthquake thread on DU today.

Sid

[snooper2]

31. Waiting for this to be moved to dungeon..

So we can have real fun with it :P


Our aliean overlords who have a base in the moon are up to no good again....

[meegbear]

32. I thought they just started up the tsumani machine again ...

:hide:

[Renew Deal]

33. That's right. Cheney ordered the earthquake!

:rofl:

[charlie]

35. Wow, Phil Plait's already got a "supermoon" column up

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/11/no-the-supermoon-didnt-cause-the-japanese-earthquake

He's fast.

[Renew Deal]

37. That was posted by a pro-moon apologist.

:evilgrin:

[charlie]

38. I know

The knee-jerk defensiveness is appalling -- LEAVE THE MOON ALONE!

:D

[backscatter712]

36. "Astrologers predict"

:rofl:

[TheMightyFavog]

39. Supermoon?

The mass mooing of the Amtrak in California isn't due till July....

However thate's talk of a flash mob mooning the capitol in Madison on Saturday...

[Fire Walk With Me]

41. Bomb teh moon! It's a terroriss!

[Curmudgeoness]

42. Probably god's wrath against gays. These idiots will come up with

anything to try to explain the unknown.

I can't recall the world being close to ending in 1992 when the moon was also close to the earth.

[Kurovski]

44. What's that you say? Moon's bats you say?

[Incitatus]

46. Yes, the moon should be considered a terrorist entity and be destroyed. nt

[flvegan]

49. Better question: can Luke Skywalker use the Force and his X-Wing fighter to blow it up?

[Generic Brad]

50. It was most likely caused by the wandering planet Nibiru

Look out. Our Annanuki overlords are coming back and they will not tolerate collective bargaining.

[BeHereNow]

51. The ignorant replies on this thread are astounding.

Energy is neither created or destroyed:
it only changes form.

To assert that we are immune to the scientific laws of the universe
is to display an unprecedented level of ignorance.

BHN

[Blue-Jay]

53. Stand back, I'm doing SCIENCE!

[Kievan Rus]

54. Doubtful. Earthquakes happen all the time. It's an active planet.

[Chris_Texas]

55. I, for one, welcome our "MOON" overlords!

[upi402]

56. But they come for our cheese!

:wow:

[Blue-Jay]

57. M-O-O-N.

[Rex]

59. Hey, when the hell did they build a deathstar?

How long has that thing been out there! Wow, gotta look around more...