Since it is getting bandied about again..."No, the “supermoon” didn’t cause the Japanese earthquake"

[Godhumor]

Posting as a helpful reminder...from Bad Astronomy (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/11/no-the-supermoon-didnt-cause-the-japanese-earthquake/ )

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The idea of the Moon affecting us on Earth isn’t total nonsense, but it cannot be behind this earthquake, and almost certainly won’t have any actual, measurable effect on us on March 19, when the full Moon is at its closest.

...

Here’s the deal. The Moon orbits the Earth in an ellipse, so sometimes it’s closer to us and sometimes farther away. At perigee (closest point) it can be as close as 354,000 km (220,000 miles). At apogee, it can be as far as 410,000 km (254,000 miles). Since the Moon orbits the Earth every month or so, it goes between these two extremes every two weeks. So if, say, it’s at apogee on the first of the month, it’ll be at perigee in the middle of the month, two weeks later.

The strength of gravity depends on distance, so the gravitational effects of the Moon on the Earth are strongest at perigee.

...

The Moon was at apogee on March 6, and will be at perigee on March 19. When the earthquake in Japan hit last night, the Moon was about 400,000 km (240,000 miles) away. So not only was it not at its closest point, it was actually farther away than it usually is on average.

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And for those who have seen "experts" predicting dire forecasts for the US, please keep this in mind.

(Also, the article also goes into a bit of detail of how the "tides" theory can be safely discounted, but, since I've already posted 4 paragraphs, I'll have to leave that up to everyone else to read.)

[petronius]

1. Nice article! Thanks... (nt)

[walldude]

2. I haven't seen any "experts" predicting dire forecasts

but I have seen experts issue warnings that this could happen or that could happen. Reporting on possibilities. Are you saying that they are all lying about the "possibilities"?

Why is it bad to be prepared for the worst case scenario? That seems to be what the attack brigade at DU is saying.

It's apparently not enough just to disagree but we have to make fun of and pick on people who are making a point to be prepared. Seems kind of like an asshole Republican thing to do. Especially when god forbid some worst case shit does happen and people who were busy not preparing are going to begging for food and water from the people they were making fun of a week ago.

[Godhumor]

4. We've had one thread already with a Fox "expert" predicting a major quake and a similar sub-thread

And there has been a lot of discussion within threads about the "tidal" theory of causing major quakes.

And blind panic helps no one. Blind panic over incorrect information is even worse--combating that is important.

And please tell me where I made fun or picked on people in my OP?

[SpiralHawk]

3. "Right-O. It was Uranus leaving Pisces for Aries." - Ronald Reagan's Dead Republicon Astrologer*

"What a made-up crock O'Crap from the propaganda pimps at Bad Astronomy in an effort to besmirch astrologers with something they never said.

"No one -- save Science SuckerPuppets (R) -- said the SuperMoon had a ding-dong thing to do with Japan's quake, since the SuperMoon is still in the future. Hello? Sigh. The spread of Scientific SuckerPuppetry is, frankly, dismaying. Check your freaking ephemeris. And especially check your steenkin Uranus."

- Ronald Reagan's Dead Republicon Astrologer*


* Courageously channeled by the intrepid SH from the vast netherworld of Republicon occultism.

[Zorra]

5. While I suspect that this is very probably true,

information on natural occurrences on earth and the effects of celestial bodies on these occurrences is too limited to make absolute statements about these effects.

"Whoops, guess the earth ain't flat after all. Sorry about that, Copernicus"

There's a lot of "uncharted water" out there.

[Godhumor]

12. But, in this case it is both easy to track and test--and studies have been done

There is no measurable correlation between major quakes and the position of the moon or tides. There is a significant, but still extremely small, correlation between moon position and microquakes (Too small to feel or sense but still register on seismic montioring. To give you an idea of measurement sizes, a hand grenade registers a 0.5 on the Richter scale).

[JDPriestly]

6. The prediction I read was for the West Coast of California

That is a big piece of real estate. Besides, why the West Coast? Why not some other place along the fault?

Actually, we are probably about due for an earthquake out here, but it would not necessarily be a big one.

I have found that my seedlings start better if I plant them right before the full moon. It could be the amount of light that shines on them. The theory is that the water rises up in the earth before the full moon.

[DCKit]

7. No, silly, it was the Octomom. Turn up your hearing aid. nt

[Johonny]

8. kick

[SidDithers]

9. K&R. Facts are good...nt

Sid

[Canuckistanian]

10. By that logic, we should have earthquakes every two weeks

Or else somebody would have noticed the correlation between tides and earthquakes. There is none.

Besides, the moon was NOT at its perigee when the earthquake struck.

[Godhumor]

11. Yup, exactly

There have been a few posts today from people saying that "experts" on TV are talking about the super moon again--it is nonsense.

[SpiralHawk]

15. Of course. And no astrologer ever said so. Only the Bad Astronomers (R)

Who made shit up and then tried to fling their made-up poo at the astrologers -- who correctly and accurately identified the celestial signature as the movement of Uranus from Pisces to Aries...

Hello Bad Astronomers. D'oh.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

13. Neil deGrasse Tyson was on CNN stating the moon had nothing to do with it.

Cool dude!

[FLPanhandle]

14. That's because after a disaster all sorts of "experts" like to show up

Getting on TV, selling books, making money.

Rememer the old quote: "There's a sucker born every minute". It makes it even easier when science education here is so ineffective.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Forecast ia a few decades away

I mean an accurate one. They got 90 seconds this time

[SidDithers]

17. Just imagine if NASA bombed the supermoon...

Menstrual cycles around the globe would go haywire!

Sid