Comments on: Why Neil deGrasse Tyson is Wrong about the Supermoon

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 22 Jan 2019 23:20:56 +0000

Thank you, I completely agree. I am not a scientist, I am an artist and writer. I am outside in the garden at night a lot. I have had the experience of noticing when a full moon is brighter than normal, only to go back in, look online and find that there is a so-called super moon happening. Maybe Neil wouldn’t notice the difference in a 30% brighter moon, but lots of people do, especially people who are paying attention to the world around them. And I too think he should be encouraging people to notice changes in nature, even small ones. There is value in learning to appreciate the small things.

By: Li D

Li D — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 08:44:53 +0000

If anyone here is a motorcycle rider they may be interested in this.
The specific stats related to supermoon made me think of this blog .

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/dec/11/risk-of-fatal-motorcycle-crash-higher-under-a-full-moon-researchers-find

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 12:30:44 +0000

Ian, you also can’t see the difference between a virus and a bacterium with the naked eye!

By: Ian Musgrave

Ian Musgrave — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 11:55:09 +0000

In reply to Greg Laden.

Actually, most people can’t, the difference between the apogee Moon and the Perigee Moon, roughly 6 months apart, is the width of three human hairs, some dedicated amateur astronomers with good visual acuity can, but I am also a dedicated amateur astronomer with ordinary visual acuity and I can’t (I have photographed them though). Ordinary people without visual referents have no hope.

http://astroblogger.blogspot.com.au/2017/12/the-perigee-moon-super-moon-of-monday.html

By: Hop David

Hop David — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 00:08:55 +0000

In reply to Valdis Kletnieks.

Valdis Kletnieks writes “Unless you live in the Bay of Fundy, 20 minutes before high tide *is* only a few inches at most lower than high tide.”

Correct. That is my point — which you apparently missed.

The size of the full moon prior and subsequent to a super moon are nearly the same as the super moon. But that’s not the full range.

You wait six or seven full moons and you’ll have a full moon 89% the diameter and about 20% dimmer.

“At most locations, the tide level is fairly well approximated by a sine wave,”

If you want to look at the full range of a sine wave you need to go at least 180º. Sin 90º = 1. Sin 270º = -1. What Tyson’s doing is like comparing sin 70º and sin 110º to sine 90º and saying there’s only a variation of .06.

By: Gregory Laden

Gregory Laden — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 00:04:14 +0000

In reply to Hop David. Hop, right, there is no error in fact on his part.

By: Valdis Kletnieks

Valdis Kletnieks — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 00:04:05 +0000

Tyvor: It’s amazing how many people were in the 70-90% totality zone of the recent eclipse and didn’t notice a thing, because human vision is highly adaptable to variance in illumination.

Yes, if you have actual photography gear up to the task, or have Tycho Brahe’s naked-eye observation skills, or have plenty of time to look at the moon every night (and day during most the month when it’s easily visible in daytime at one time or another – another thing a lot of people don’t realize), you can notice things like where it rises and sets at different times of year, etc. Hell, Stonehenge got built based on that sort of observation.

But if you live anyplace light-polluted, and you’re going outside just because you saw a Facebook post bragging a Super Moon tonight, you’re in for disappointment.

By: Tyvor Winn

Tyvor Winn — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 23:27:57 +0000

In reply to Valdis Kletnieks. What you, Hop, and Greg are saying is something that makes it more difficult for casual observers to notice variations in many things. At a casual glance it is difficult to tell a full moon from the gibbous moon phases seen for a couple of days before and after. When I was teaching, I was often surprised at the things that people hadn't noticed about the natural world.

By: Valdis Kletnieks

Valdis Kletnieks — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 22:23:30 +0000

Hop: Unless you live in the Bay of Fundy, 20 minutes before high tide *is* only a few inches at most lower than high tide. At most locations, the tide level is fairly well approximated by a sine wave, so at the max and min points the values for a fairly wide window either side are still pretty close. Visit a beach – the high point of waves moves up and down the beach the fastest about 6 hours away from high/low tide. That half hour either side, those waves are breaking right about the same place….

By: Valdis Kletnieks

Valdis Kletnieks — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 22:09:18 +0000

In reply to Joseph Shelby.

Joseph: Thank you for pointing out that even you, with a camera, and *looking* for changes, have to go through an iterative process.

Also, note that these days not a lot of people use a camera with a 70-300 lens…