I don’t know much about astronomy, but I am a scientist and I know this. One key scientific concept that is rarely grasped by non scientists but at the same time drives much of science itself is variation.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the understanding that variation is key is one of the characteristics that separates the ancients, who may have engaged in what looks like science but rarely advanced true understanding, and the moderns (to oversimplify greatly, ironically).<\/p>\n
The moon and other celestial bodies always do the same thing, never change in their course or appearance, and once one has finished cataloguing them, there is nothing else to see.<\/p>\n
Or is there? Isn’t there in fact change all the time? Isn’t change itself the essence of the universe? Is it not true that a star is a dynamic thing that has a birth, stages of life, a death, and from its remnants come other things? Isn’t this how astronomers like Neil DeGrasse Tyson are able to utter such brilliances as “I am made of star dust”??? Don’t planets form, collide with things or things with them, cool, change dramatically across the surface, even break lose form their orbits now and then? <\/p>\n
It turns out that the Moon varies over time in its physical relationship to the Earth, because orbits are not perfectly simple geometric shapes. It turns out that this variation in orbital geometry, of the moon in relation to the earth, and the earth in relation to the sun, is incredibly important. You know tides are important. Regular readers of this blog also know that variations in tides from day to day, caused by this orbital variation, also matter. You know that the sun provides energy to warm the surface of the Earth (the atmosphere, the ground itself, the seas and lakes, etc.). Readers of this blog also know that variation in orbital geometry is one of the factors that cause immensely important variation in that process. Day vs. night is a big deal, seasons are a big deal, and the changes in the nature of day and night and seasons over time scales of tens of thousands of years are among the key determinants in whether or not we have ice ages. That sort of thing.<\/p>\n
The so-called “supermoon” is a phenomenon whereby the moon is sometimes closer to the Earth than at other times, and thus looks bigger and is brighter to our eye. The difference between the smallest looking moon and the biggest looking moon is about 14% in apparent area and 30% in apparent brightness. That brightness difference is comparable to differences between different size light bulbs one might choose, or maximum and minimum difference in screen brightness one might set for a smartphone or laptop screen. Most people would, and do, spend considerable effort and energy appearing to be 14% different in size (one way or anther). That is not a small amount.<\/p>\n
So, with the supermoon, two things can happen. One, regular people who are not scientists can get a taste of variation, to understand that the fixed objects of our solar system arent’ so darned fixed, and in fact vary impactfully in the way they relate to each other. That can lead to interesting discussion if one lets it. Two, the supermoon phenomenon, an astronomical phenomenon that is real, can lead more people to get outside and look up into the sky at stuff.<\/p>\n
But Neil deGrasse Tyson<\/a>, enigmatically, will have none of it. He says stay inside, don’t look up, don’t engage with the cosmos. The supermoon is nothing. NdGT tweeting:<\/p>\n FYI: The very concept of a Super Moon is an embarrassment to everything else we call super: Supernova, Supercollider, Superman, Super Mario Bros.<\/p>\n — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 3, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n