Will Supermoon Saturday Cause Quakes Sunday?

From KHTS, Hometownstation.com
Updated: 2:48 am, Saturday, Jul 12, 2014
A supermoon is expected to appear Saturday for the first of three times this summer.

The full moon will reach perigee when it passes closest to the Earth during its elliptical orbit, said Griffith Observatory Telescope Demonstrator and amateur astronomer Jim Mahon.

“It’s just a full moon that happens to occur when the moon perigees. The orbit is an ellipse not circle, there’s a high point and low point,” Mahon said. “Sometimes it happens to hit the low point when full.

first-three-supermoons-appear-saturday-42733The reason people really notice the full moon is because it’s rising at sunset. you’ll be out and about.”

Two other supermoons this summer will be on Aug. 10 and Sept. 9. Last year there were three in a row.

“The closest full moon of 2014 occurs next month on Aug. 10, at 2:11 p.m. ET,” according to an NBC News article. “On that date, the moon reaches perigee, or its closest approach to the Earth at 221,765 miles (356,896) kilometers distant at 1:44 p.m. ET, less than an hour from full.”

While the moon may look larger, it’s actually just an illusion, Mahon said.