DESCRIPTION:
Kat O1O - "New Moon at Perigee" (Natural Phenomena, Quannum/O1O Sound 2009)
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/natural-phenomena/id335117599

On March 19th, 2011 we will all experience an
Extreme SuperMoon at Perigee! (Proxigean Spring Tide)

So, what is a SuperMoon, anyway, and what causes it? SuperMoons are caused by the shape of the Moon's orbit, which is not a perfect circle, but an ellipse, or oval, shape. The Moon orbits the Earth once each month, and each month reaches a point furthest from the Earth, called apogee, and closest to the Earth, called perigee.

A SuperMoon occurs when the Moon is at least 90% of the way to its perigee position at the same time it is full or new. An extreme SuperMoon is when a full or new Moon happens at the same time the Moon is close to 100% average perigee.

The reason these two Moon phases are singled out is because each of them means that the Sun, Earth, and Moon are in alignment. When the Moon is full, it sits exactly on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. When the Moon is new, it sits between the Earth and the Sun. In both cases, the gravitational pull from these two bodies -- the Moon and the Sun -- combine to create larger than normal tides, called "spring tides," on Earth. When the Moon is also at perigee at this time, the effect is magnified into what is called a "proxigean spring tide."

Of course, a new Moon at perigee isn't very exciting to look at -- because the new Moon does not reflect the Sun's light, it is invisible -- so full SuperMoons get much more attention than new SuperMoons.

The moon will be at its closest to earth since 1993 on March 19th.
The closest perigee in the years between 1750 and 2125 was 356,375 km on 4th January 1912.

Previous SuperMoons took place in 1938 Lunar Perigee (Super Moon) blamed for New England Hurricane, in 1955 the Hunter valley Floods, 1974 Cyclone Tracy in Darwin, 1992 Hurricane Andrew, and 2005 Katrina.

Scientists disagree however.

Pete Wheeler of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy said that there will be no earthquake or volcano eruption. If indeed that happens, it is predestined.

"At that time (19 March), the Earth does go through a higher tide, and a lower ebb than usual. There's nothing to worry about", he added.

Our Moon's been through a lot this year..
remember the Lunar Winter Solstice Eclipse? Blood Moon