Astronomers expect a "supermoon" on March 19

March 19, 2011 by Webmaster

The moon will soon make its closest approach to the Earth in 18 years.

The upcoming lunar event has been called a "supermoon" by astronomers, who predict that the full moon will be only 356,577 kilometers away from earthlings on March 19.

The full moon would not be noticeably brighter if seen with the naked eye but would appear 7 percent larger when seen through a telescope, Thomas Djamaluddin, an astronomy and astrophysics researcher at the Indonesian National Aeronautics and Space Agency (LAPAN), said on Wednesday as reported by tempointeraktif.com.

The supermoon would affect tides and fishermen and those living on the coast should be alert for possible flash floods, Thomas said.

-The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

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SOURCE: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20110317-268...