Supermoon blamed for stranding five ships in Solent
Speculation that the "supermoon" may have caused the Japanese earthquake was dismissed by Nasa – but now British coastguards say it could be behind the stranding of several ships.
Revellers stand beside St. Michael's Tower on Glastonbury Tor watching the moon as it is at its closest point to the Earth for almost two decades Photo: PA
Yesterday afternoon five different vessels got into distress in the busy shipping lanes of the Solent, at the Needles on the western side of the Isle of Wight.
Coastguards suggested that they were caught out by Saturday evening's "supermoon", which caused sandbanks to be exposed by low tides.
One of the ships was the 2,900-tonne cargo ship Paula-C, on its way to Cowes with a crew of nine. They were forced to wait for a high tide to lift them clear of a shingle bank.
A 25-foot yacht ran aground and three other vessels were also marooned on sand and shingle banks that normally lie submerged.
A spokesman for the Coastguard said: "We checked them all and there were no injuries, just some surprise at being caught out like this. Blame it on the moon."
The supermoon phenomenon occurs when the moon passes closest to Earth on the two bodies' orbit and the moon is full.
It is also known as a perigee-syzygy: perigee refers to the lowest point of the orbit, while syzygy (pronounced siz-uh-ji) refers to the alignment of the moon, Earth and the Sun.
The latest supermoon occurred on March 19 and the moon came closer to Earth than at any point in almost 20 years, making it look much bigger, although it was still 221,567 miles away.
Ordinary supermoons occur about five times a year but events such as last week's are known as "maximal perigee" – when the two heavenly bodies are particularly close – and only happen about every two decades.
The approaching moon led to uninformed speculation on the internet linking it to the recent natural disasters.
Such were the prophecies, that Nasa decided to issue reassurance that it was not going to have any appreciable effects.
Did you capture the supermoon on camera? Send your photos to mypic@telegraph.co.uk
Monday, 21 March 2011
Supermoon blamed for stranding five ships in Solent - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
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