The Supermoon stuff? AGAIN?

Sigh. You may've seen some folks writing about this weekend's so-called Supermoon. I suppose I'm not surprised, but it's still irritating. Why? Because it's just hype (and to get this out of the way immediately, will have no real effect on the Earth, either). Here's the scoop. This weekend, on the night of May 5/6, the Moon will be full. This happens every 29 days or so when the Moon is opposite the Sun in the sky, and we see its face fully illuminated. As it happens, the Moon's orbit is elliptical, and so sometimes the Moon is a bit closer to the Earth than other times. Every now and again the Moon is full when it's also closest to Earth -- the point in its orbit called perigee. May 5th is one of those times.