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
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