Closest new moon of 2008 on June 3
This is a young moon, shortly after a new moon which is almost invisible because only the dark side is facing Earth. (Credit: NASA Johnson Space Center - Earth Sciences and Image Analysis)
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Today’s new moon is the closest new moon of this year.
The moon is new every month, when it comes closest to being between the Earth and sun.
There will be a total of 13 new moons in 2008. But today’s new moon is the closest to Earth for 2008. It’s only about 360,000 kilometers – much less than a quarter million miles – from Earth today. In contrast, the year’s most distant new moon – in December – will be about 50,000 kilometers farther away.
You can’t see a new moon. It’s not visible, because at this lunar phase the unlit side of the moon faces Earth. Plus, the moon crosses the sky with the sun during the day today. But the effects of today’s closest new moon will be seen and felt along Earth’s ocean shorelines. At new moon, the moon and the sun line up with the Earth, and the combined gravitational influence of the sun and moon add up to create higher than usual tides.
These are called spring tides, when the variation between the daily low and high tides are greatest. Low tides plummet especially low, and high tides soar way up high. The extra close new moon today amplifies this spring tide.
Expect large tides for the next several days, and some possible flooding if the high tides are accompanied by strong onshore winds and low barometric pressure.
The special spring tides that come when the new or full moon is closest are called perigean spring tides. Perigee means that the moon is at its closest point to the Earth for the month.
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