The Super Moon of 2012

Saturday night (5/5/12) will be the 5th full moon of the year and actually it'll be the biggest one of the year!!  The moon revolves around the earth on an elliptical orbit.  Once a year the moon is the closest to the earth and tonight will be that time.  At 11:34 EST the moon will appear the brightest and biggest for the year.  Though it may be hard to tell with just your eyes the moon will appear 14% bigger than usually and 30% brighter.  One minute after that the moon will exactly line up with the earth and the sun, this is when the moon is at its " Perigee" (the closest to earth), so the name Perigee Moon is also used along with Super Moon.

Some wacky thing are said to happen around full moons, including dogs barking more, increased crime and higher hospital admissions.  Interestingly the word "lunacy" comes from origins relating to the moon.  The translation into Latin shows the word lunar, so maybe the old wives tales may be true.  One thing that is changed by the closer moon are the tides.  With a closer moon you could expect tides to be astronomically high and flooding to occur.  That, however, is not the case.  Tides during a perigee moon have been recorded to be higher than normal but only by 1-6 inches above the normal high tide mark. 

Sadly tonight the QCA will have cloudy skies, but if you are in an area where the skies are clear, look up at the moon tonight, since it'll be the biggest it'll be all year.