The "supermoon" phenomenon occurred at 3:09 am on March 20th, this past Monday, and now, representatives from the Taipei Astronomical Museum are telling the public not to over analyze the talks that have been going around regarding the rare happening, which is when the moon is the closest in its orbit to the earth.

While many are becoming extremely concerned that "supermoon" acts as a warning for catastrophic events, some experts are calling the claims untrue, and that there is no substantial scientific evidence to back it up.

At 3:09AM on the 20th, the moon passes by in close proximity, meaning the moon moves in at the closest distance to earth. As a result, the moon appears larger than usual.

This month's full moon would also be the largest this year. Comparing to the smallest full moon that will take place this October, the size difference is dramatic.

According to recent foreign reports, this "supermoon" may incur natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic activities.

But according to the Taipei Astronomical Museum, these claims are absurd.

The Museum says, because the moon orbits the earth in an oval shape, there is always a moment each month the moon passes comparatively close to the earth. At this moment, the moon is full and is referred to as the "perigeum".

During every "perigeum", the distance between the moon and the earth is different. But according to a British report, Hurricane Katrina and South Asia Tsunami also occurred during full moon.

The Taipei Astronomical Museum denied this theory.

Take Taiwan for example, since the moon reaches "perigeum" on a monthly basis, the "supermoon" in March is the 4th largest since the 1990's. And the difference in distance between the earth and each full moon is only a matter of tenth of kilometers. Compare to the 350,000-kilometer between the earth and the moon, the distance is insignificant.

As a result, the museum denies any claims linking the supermoon to natural disasters.

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