Who was cheated by the rumor of the super moon?

Social media has been bombarded for a long time: last night's "Super Moon" was the brightest in 68 years, and it looked 14% bigger and 30% brighter than usual. If you miss last night, you will have to wait 18 years to see such a moon again ... is it exciting? But if you expect to see the huge moon in the photography, the result is definitely disappointing-last night's "super moon" is actually not much different from the moon around the fifteenth lunar month.

What is the so-called "super moon" that is wildly hyped on social media? It turns out that this is just a simple number game: the orbit of the moon around the earth is elliptical, and last night the moon reached the perigee of the orbit. Its distance from the earth is shorter than apogee 14%. Some media simply apply the principle of "far small and near big" and directly replace "big 14%" with "near 14%". The expression "30% brighter" is even funnier: the diameter of the moon is 14%, and the area is 30% larger, so it is directly changed to "30% brighter"!

Anyone who has read The Day Two Children Debate should know that "14% is closer" and "14% is bigger" are completely different concepts and cannot be simply converted. Even if the moon is really big 14%, it is difficult for ordinary people to tell it with the naked eye. There is a simple reason. When the base number is very small, even if there is a substantial increase, the visual field of the naked eye is still not much different. Brightness is not equal to area.

The people who hyped the "super moon" just played a simple number game, which was not rigorous in theory, and in fact lacked basis. However, this stunt still fooled many people. On social media, many people are forwarding this rumor with exaggerated words, deliberately exaggerating the unscientific, imprecise and objective figures of "14%, 30% brighter, the brightest in 68 years, and 18 years later". Some romantic people are eager to try, ready to make an appointment with the person in their hearts to spend the beautiful scenery together.

All kinds of false rumors on social media can easily be madly forwarded, which makes many people believe it and has a great influence. In the final analysis, it is because people who madly forward this rumor lack basic scientific literacy and scientific common sense. "Tonight is 14% bigger and 30% brighter than usual", which is a big problem in itself. For reference, "peacetime" itself is a vague concept. What is "peacetime"? First day? The tenth day? Still the same fifteen? The reference object itself is not clear, how to compare the size and brightness? In fact, in this rumor, "peacetime" refers to the farthest time from the moon on earth. It's ridiculous to take the extreme value as the average and make rumors. Furthermore, people should know with common sense that the size and brightness of the moon complete a cycle once a month, and then go round and round. The moon always gets bigger and brighter bit by bit, and then gets smaller and darker bit by bit. A few nights ago, we all saw the state of the moon. Why did it suddenly get bigger and brighter last night?