Full Moon
Cause
For
"Green
Alert"
For
Costa
Rica's
Coasts
The full
moon
this
weekend
is the
reason
for the
"green
alert"
for high
waves
for
Costa
Rica's
coasts.
The
alert
was
issued
by the
Comisión
Nacional
de
Emergencias
(CNE) as
a
preventive
measure.
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The CNE
is
advisory
is from
Sunday
to
Thursday.
CNE
officials
say the
Pacific
coast
and the
area of
Isla del
Coco
could be
the most
affected
by the
waves.
According
to the
Instituto
Meteorológico
Nacional
(IMN) -
national
weather
service
- the
high
waves
could
have a
greater
impact
at high
time.
The
lunar
event
this
weekend,
called
by some
as Super
Moon
Sunday,
brings
the moon
closest
to Earth
in past
18
years.
The
super
moon
event is
said to
occur
between
March 16
and
March 22
with the
full
moon
being
closest
to Earth
than any
time in
the past
18 years
on March
19.
Celestial
bodies
do not
orbit in
perfect
circles
as the
earliest
scientist
thought.
Johannes
Kepler
showed
us in
1609
that
planets
and
moons
sweep
out
their
orbits
in
ellipses.
This
means
that, at
some
points
in their
orbits,
they are
closer
to the
body
they
orbit
than
other
points.
Whenever
a
celestial
satellite
is at
its
closest
point,
it is
known to
be at
perigee
and when
it is at
its
furthest
point
from the
body it
orbits,
it is at
apogee.
Even
though
this
Saturday’s
full
moon
occurs
within
an hour
of the
perigee
(an
event
that
only
happens
every 18
years),
the
satellite
is still
356,577
kilometers
away
from
Earth,
only
about 8
percent
closer
than its
average
distance
from
Earth.
This
full
moon at
perigee
is a
super
moon and
will
appear
about 14
percent
bigger
and 30
percent
brighter
than
lesser
moons
that
occur on
the
apogee
side of
the
moon's
orbit.
The best
time to
look is
when the
moon is
near the
horizon
at moon
rise in
the east
and moon
set in
the
west.
When the
moon is
near the
horizon,
illusion
mixes
with
reality
to
produce
an
amazingly
large
view of
the
moon.
For
reasons
not
completely
understood
by
scientist,
moons
hanging
just
above
the
horizon
look
unnaturally
large
when
they are
seen
between
trees,
buildings
and
other
foreground
objects.
The
actual
full
moon
will
occur
during
the
daylight
hours on
Saturday,
so the
next
best
time
will be
right
around 8
p.m. on
Saturday
after
the moon
rise.
Sunday
morning
before
daybreak
will
also
afford a
quality
view,
but by
Sunday
evening,
the moon
will be
starting
its trip
back
toward
apogee.
A
perigee
full
moon
brings
with it
extra-high
"perigean
tides,"
but this
is
nothing
like the
natural
disasters
predicted
by
Internet
doomsayers.
The only
impact
of a
slightly
closer
moon
will be
slightly
higher
tides.
In most
places,
lunar
gravity
at
perigee
pulls
tide
waters
only
about an
inch or
so
higher
than
usual.
Local
geography
can
amplify
the
effect
to about
six
inches,
but East
Central
Florida’s
beaches
will
barely
notice
the
difference.
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