A super perigee moon terrorised man and beast alike early last week. The event occurs when the moon is at its closest point to Earth, making it appear 14% bigger and 30% brighter than a standard full moon.
The moon reached its fullest point at 3.35pm on Sunday 5 May. However Grant Christie of Auckland’s Stardome Observatory told the Otago Daily Times, “it does reach its closest moment in a particular point in time, but in terms of the visual impact … you wouldn’t notice a difference half a day either side, frankly.”
Despite the wide array of phenomena associated with overly-luminous moons, few abnormal events were recorded. There was no noticable rise in the number of lunatics on Dunedin streets, nor did any tidal waves occur. Local vets were unable to confirm whether more pets suffered injuries due to the full moon. Critic didn’t want to waste the time of the staff at the Dunedin Hospital Emergency Room but we can speculate that many, many students reported to the ER with a variety of injuries, just like every other weekend. One student did report to Critic that he struggled to sleep during the moon’s recent proximity; however, further investigation revealed that the student simply needed to invest in curtains.
Disaster predictor and “moon man” Ken Ring experienced more excitement than most in response to the perigree moon. Ring claimed on his website that supermoons can “exaggerate whatever else is going on in weather”. He added to his dubious scientific analysis with earthquake predictions. “The higher tides also bring risk of seismic activity again to NZ, with potent dates May 5 and May 11.” Ring continued, “Sea mammals have already started beaching in Peru which portends earthquake activity in that region.” Ring told Critic that he would recommend trampers avoid rivers that may be affected by the massive high tides. Despite rivers not having tides, Critic has duly notified Clubs and Socs.
Hello I am the moon
