"The new moon is the closest in nearly 1,000 years tonight"
https://www.space.com/new-moon-closest-1000-years-jan-21-2023

"It's the closest new moon to Earth since the year 1030. At 3:54 p.m.
EST (2054 GMT), the moon will be exactly 221,561 miles (356,568 km) away
from our planet, according to Timeanddate.com (opens in new tab), which
sifted through data from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to determine
the distances of every Earth-moon distance for hundreds of years."

"Because the moon's orbit is not perfectly circular, but elliptical, its
distance from Earth changes all the time. The next time the new moon
will be this close will be on Jan. 20, 2368 — and that moon will
actually be 6 miles (9 km) closer than this one. By comparison, the
moon's average distance is 238,855 miles (384,400 km) away."

Lynn

On Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 9:33:55 PM UTC-5, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> "The new moon is the closest in nearly 1,000 years tonight"
> https://www.space.com/new-moon-closest-1000-years-jan-21-2023
>
> "It's the closest new moon to Earth since the year 1030. At 3:54 p.m.
> EST (2054 GMT), the moon will be exactly 221,561 miles (356,568 km) away
> from our planet, according to Timeanddate.com (opens in new tab), which
> sifted through data from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to determine
> the distances of every Earth-moon distance for hundreds of years."
>
> "Because the moon's orbit is not perfectly circular, but elliptical, its
> distance from Earth changes all the time. The next time the new moon
> will be this close will be on Jan. 20, 2368 — and that moon will
> actually be 6 miles (9 km) closer than this one. By comparison, the
> moon's average distance is 238,855 miles (384,400 km) away."

So, if we could see it, (which we can't, since it's a new moon), it would be
about 7% wider than average. Big whoop.

I really despise lazy journalism like this, which tries to make 'news' out of common,
perfectly predictable events. It's like making a story out of the sun rising.

Worst are the 'Super Blood Moon' stories.

Pt

In article <e9afea80-c75a-4066-8e4f-aa1daf8984a1n@googlegroups.com>,
"pete...@gmail.com" <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 9:33:55 PM UTC-5, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> > "The new moon is the closest in nearly 1,000 years tonight"
> > https://www.space.com/new-moon-closest-1000-years-jan-21-2023
> >
> > "It's the closest new moon to Earth since the year 1030. At 3:54 p.m.
> > EST (2054 GMT), the moon will be exactly 221,561 miles (356,568 km) away
> > from our planet, according to Timeanddate.com (opens in new tab), which
> > sifted through data from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to determine
> > the distances of every Earth-moon distance for hundreds of years."
> >
> > "Because the moon's orbit is not perfectly circular, but elliptical, its
> > distance from Earth changes all the time. The next time the new moon
> > will be this close will be on Jan. 20, 2368 — and that moon will
> > actually be 6 miles (9 km) closer than this one. By comparison, the
> > moon's average distance is 238,855 miles (384,400 km) away."
>
> So, if we could see it, (which we can't, since it's a new moon), it would be
> about 7% wider than average. Big whoop.

On the other hand, the high tide will be a more extreme spring than
usual.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
—-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

On Sat, 21 Jan 2023 19:02:37 -0800, pete...@gmail.com wrote:

> On Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 9:33:55 PM UTC-5, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> "The new moon is the closest in nearly 1,000 years tonight"
>> https://www.space.com/new-moon-closest-1000-years-jan-21-2023
>>
>> "It's the closest new moon to Earth since the year 1030. At 3:54 p.m.
>> EST (2054 GMT), the moon will be exactly 221,561 miles (356,568 km)
>> away from our planet, according to Timeanddate.com (opens in new tab),
>> which sifted through data from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to
>> determine the distances of every Earth-moon distance for hundreds of
>> years."
>>
>> "Because the moon's orbit is not perfectly circular, but elliptical,
>> its distance from Earth changes all the time. The next time the new
>> moon will be this close will be on Jan. 20, 2368 — and that moon will
>> actually be 6 miles (9 km) closer than this one. By comparison, the
>> moon's average distance is 238,855 miles (384,400 km) away."
>
> So, if we could see it, (which we can't, since it's a new moon), it
> would be about 7% wider than average. Big whoop.
>
> I really despise lazy journalism like this, which tries to make 'news'
> out of common,
> perfectly predictable events. It's like making a story out of the sun
> rising.
>
> Worst are the 'Super Blood Moon' stories.
>
> Pt

The journalism in question isn't necessarily lazy. There's an
undercurrent of occultism in the trade. I realized this when I
tracked the use of the phrase "Aquarian age" in newspapers
through the 20th century. Astrology was treated seriously in the
early part of the century before being confined to the lifestyle
(formerly women's) sections later on. But the overall vibe
continues to resonate throughout.