Wondering about the Moon.

The moon has been the subject of many folklore, old wive’s tales, and superstitions, and it has been blamed for earth quakes, romantic situations, the birth of babies (refer back to romantic situations), luck or lack there of, and much, much more.  Could any these be true?  Well, like most folklore, there is or was some truth to all of it.

Let us start with earth quakes.  I would say that it could have an affect.  Did you know that the spring tide lineup of the Sun and Moon makes our entire planet flex about nine inches?  That just may be the extra nudge that built up stresses in the earth’s crust needs to create an earth quake.

Now for romantic situations and the birth of babies; you may have to get someone a lot younger than I am to explain the romantic part, but I can tell you what it has in common with the birth of babies.  If the romantic part of a full moon is correct, than maybe the birth of babies is correct, also.  Why, because the average 266 days of pregnancy almost match the 265.5 days it takes for the moon to complete nine cycles of 29.5 days from Full Moon to Full Moon.  Which also means that most conceptions took place during the full moon.

Some other interesting facts are that the far side looks nothing like the side of the moon that faces earth.

When something collides with the moon, whether a meteorite or space junk, the moon rings like a giant gong.

The moon’s orbit around earth never closes on itself; the moon does not end an orbit where it began it.  The moon swivels around us every nine years.

Unlike most of the moons of other planets, our moon does not circle the planet’s equator.

The moon is one of nature’s rare almost perfect spheres.  It is only 4 miles out of round.

The full moon’s surface can heat up to over 200 degrees and can radiate some of that heat to earth’s lower atmosphere raising its temperature .04 degrees.

The full moon is the only heavenly body we know of that seems to be equally bright from the center to the edge.  In all other heavenly spheres, the brightness drops off near the edges.  This brightness to the edge makes the moon look flat.

By the way, the moon always makes an interesting telescopic subject, the shadows are always changing and it doesn’t look the same on different nights.  In fact it can change while you are watching it.

Now, I don’t suppose you will ever look at the full moon the same again.  Wait until next month (May 2012) and the full moon will be the largest and closest until 2014.  You may want to take a look.  Remind me to do so, as I have a tendency to forget things that far in the future.  You all have a great day now and don’t strain your necks looking at the moon.