What happens when the Sun Earth and Moon line up (in that order)? Do people (or animals) get crazy? Commit more crimes? The Moon always shows us the same face, but there’s only one instant when the Moon is truly.
Credit: Space.com / produced and edited by Steve Spaleta & David Sky Brody
Credit: Space.com / produced and edited by Steve Spaleta & David Sky Brody
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00:00A full moon shows up, to earthly viewers, when the moon's orbit takes it around to
00:07the point where sun, earth, and moon line up, and the onrushing sunlight fully splashes
00:12the earth-facing face of the moon.
00:15But does that cause any special weirdness here on earth?
00:31The full moon is more than just a passing phase. During the full moon, and also at the
00:36completely dark new moon phase, gravity of the nearby moon lines up in phase with gravity
00:41of the far away, but hugely massive sun, to cause higher tides in earth's oceans.
00:47Now could all that crazy gravity slosh around the liquids inside our living bodies, and
00:52what could happen if they did?
00:53Well, people have long speculated, but turns out the idea that exposure to the full moon
00:58causes insanity is, well, just sheer lunacy. Study after study has found no statistical
01:04correlation between observed psychotic episodes, or crime statistics, or animal bites.
01:10Really, you're not any more likely to hideously mutate into your werewolf form on the night
01:14of the full moon than you are on any other night.
01:19Some species of real wolves do seem to like to howl at the full moon, but researchers
01:24are not quite sure yet just why.
01:29Buddhism teaches that all full moon days are holy. Judaism marks at least three significant
01:35yearly holidays by the full moon.
01:38And many cultures around the earth give a pet name to each passing full moon.
01:43Mug moon, oak moon, milk moon, ink moon, hay moon, grain moon, old moon, cold moon, egg moon.
01:52And once in a blue moon, we get two full moons in a month, which is really just a trick of
01:57the calendar we picked.
02:06With the moon, the earth, and even the sun constantly in motion, there's actually only
02:17one infinitely short instant when the moon is truly full.
02:23At that one moment, the far side of the moon actually is the dark side of the moon.
02:31And finally, here's a tip. The full moon is the very worst time to observe the moon.
02:39The harsh lighting is too bright and too flat to show you the true beauty of earth's magnificent
02:45natural satellite.
02:49So that's the full moon, this is your Two Minute Universe, and I'm Dave Brody.
03:00Space.com