With a supermoon due tomorrow, January 31, seismologists will be on high alert as scientists have said that they may have played a part in deadly earthquakes and tsunamis in previous years.
Researchers have pointed to the deadly tsunami and earthquake which struck Japan on March 11, 2011, which claimed the lives of nearly 16,000 people – there was a supermoon eight days after this.
On February 22 of the same year, there was a 6.3 magnitude quake in Christchurch, New Zealand, which killed 185 people – there was a supermoon four days prior to this.
Seismologist for GNS Science Dr John Ristau said that if faults are at breaking point, a supermoon could trigger an Earthquake.
He told New Zealand’s NewsHub: “When you get the tidal forces from the moon it does cause increased stresses in the Earth’s crust, so what can happen, potentially, is if you did have a fault that was almost at the very tipping point of rupturing, this could potentially act as the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“If you had a fault that was right there and was just about to break, all it needs is just one tiny little push.
“So that tiny little push, it could coincidentally happen at the time when there’s a full moon, when the tidal forces are high.”
The Super Blue Blood Moon will take place on January 31, and the next one will not be until 2028.
Despite the name, a Blue Moon is actually white, but it is a total eclipse that involves the second full moon in a month.
The first full moon has taken place in the first few days of 2018, and will also be the biggest supermoon of the year.
So rare is a Blue Moon that the phenomenon has not occurred for more than 150 years since 1866.
The moon will also take on an red eerie glow because it coincides with a total lunar eclipse across America.
During a total lunar eclipse, the moon is sometimes known as a Blood Moon because of the way the atmosphere bends the light.
Both combined make it a super blue blood moon.