Tag Archives: Michael Wing

Last And Largest Supermoon of 2024 Is Nearly Here

The full Hunter’s Moon—a moon known for its extra-bountiful glow in autumn, one that traditionally helped hunters harvest venison into the late evening, before the winter freeze—will rise on Oct. 17. It will loom larger and brighter than ever. The reason?

It will be a supermoon. But not just any supermoon.

The Hunter’s Moon this October will be the biggest supermoon of the year, the fourth and final one of 2024.

How the Hunter’s Moon Got Its Name

Both Colonial Americans and Canadian Settlers once had to hunt to fill their stores before settling into their lodges for the winter. To this end, they would hunt late into the evening while deer and other large game were easy to spot in the open stubble fields after the harvest.

These night hunts were assisted by moonlight from October’s full moon, which mysteriously rose sooner than expected and loomed larger than was typical. It was as if it provided light specifically for their hunting.

What looked like a helping hand from the full moon gave rise to its traditional name: the Hunter’s Moon.

This year, the Hunter’s Moon falls on Oct. 17, reaching peak illumination at exactly 7:26 a.m. EDT. It will be below the horizon for stargazers here in Canada and the rest of North America at that time. But at sunset that evening you can look eastward and find it still quite full, as it will seem the following evening, on Oct. 18, and the evening prior, on Oct. 16. Moons don’t change their cycles on a dime.

It Will Be a ‘Supermoon’

Similar to September’s huge Harvest Moon, October’s full moon will be a supermoon. It will appear larger and will be closer to the Earth than usual, which happens because the moon’s distance from Earth isn’t fixed. Our largest natural satellite travels along an oval-shaped orbit, so sometimes it’s nearer and other times further away.

Full Harvest Moon to Fall in September Will Be a Supermoon—Here’s Why It Will Loom Gigantic

Scientists Have Confirmed Cave on Moon That Could Be Used to Shelter Future Explorers

When a full moon occurs near the point closest to Earth along said orbit, a point called the perigee, a supermoon results. This occurred in September’s Harvest Moon and will happen again for October’s Hunter’s Moon, making it the fourth and final supermoon of the year; the largest in 2024.

The Hunter's Moon traditionally follows the Harvest Moon. (Shutterstock/Harry L/Richard OD)
The Hunter’s Moon traditionally follows the Harvest Moon. Shutterstock/Harry L/Richard OD

On Oct. 16, perigee will be reached. At exactly 8:57 p.m. EDT, the moon will be 222,055 miles from Earth, roughly 17,000 miles nearer than average. Not 12 hours later, the full moon will fall. Supermoons can loom 7 percent larger than normal, though human eyes can’t usually tell. It’ll also shine slightly brighter.

Facts And Folklore of Autumn Full Moons

As full moons go, autumn’s are famously big. Supermoon or no supermoon, farmers have long relied on fall full moons for moonlight when working late to bring harvests in before the frost. Folklore says these moons are larger and even seem to forestall their departure mysteriously, as if gracing the harvest with extra illumination.

The “Hunter’s Moon” usually falls in October, but not always. Full moons in September, October, and November sometimes swap names. Harvest Moon always denotes the moon closest to the equinox (the first day of fall) and usually falls in September, and so, they are most commonly in September. But every so often, October’s full moon is closest to the equinox (which is in late September) and thus assumes the title Harvest Moon. When that happens, the Hunter’s Moon gets bumped into November.

Swapping names is unusual for full moons; they don’t follow that tradition in other months. April’s Pink Moon and June’s Strawberry Moon don’t shift, nor do moons of other months. Furthermore, most moon names denote the month’s entire lunar cycle, whereas the Harvest Moon and Hunter’s Moon denote just the full moon event.

Colonial Americans traditionally hunted after the autumn harvest to fill their stores for the winter months. (Shutterstock/Maciej Pawlik)
Colonial Americans traditionally hunted after the autumn harvest to fill their stores for the winter months. Shutterstock/Maciej Pawlik

Autumn moons loom larger than usual, too. Astronomers say this is just an optical illusion. Autumn moons often appear near the horizon because the moon’s arc is so affected by Earth’s axial tilt during the equinox. They may seem larger when viewed next to terrestrial foreground objects like trees or buildings. The psychological impact this has makes the moon look grander.

It’s just an illusion, though—the “moon illusion.”

But there’s more to the equinox than smoke and mirrors. Some of the strangeness is real, as autumn moons follow a perplexing schedule. On average, throughout the year, the moon rises 50 minutes later each night as its orbit carries it steadily eastward. But around the equinox, it may rise as few as 23 minutes later. This boon to farmers is no illusion.

Astronomers twist their tongues to explain it.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac says it’s because the moon’s arc has its greatest northerly component during fall and is thus at its longest. Now traveling rapidly northward, it appears to rise sooner than expected, and all the more so the further north you go.

All together—the Hunter’s Moon, the extra moonlight, the equinox, the moon illusion, and the largest supermoon of 2024—it seems we’re in for a sublime lunar spectacle. There’s a chill in the air. So grab your fall coat for an evening under the warm glow of the Hunter’s Moon. For the Silo, Michael Wing.

Featured image- Designed by friends at The Epoch Times Shutterstock/solepsizm/Richard OD/Harry L

Underwater Bimini Road Suggests Advanced Ancient Humans?

There is something very strange about the crystal blue waters in the Caribbean Sea, dotted with white sand islands and coconut trees, that seems to attract unsolved mysteries.

But unless the minds behind Wikipedia or mainstream science have a change of heart, the ever-mysterious underwater highway known as Bimini Road will likely remain case-closed.

Thereby hangs a tale common to throngs of mysterious places in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Florida Keys wherein ships, divers, and other witnesses speak of the unexplained—only to be scoffed at, derided, and scorned.

As with the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, and the fountain of youth, the Bimini Road joined the list of Caribbean enigmas when, in 1968, Joseph Manson Valentine, Jacques Mayol, and Robert Angove dove 18 feet underwater about a mile off of North Bimini, some 80 miles northwest of the Bahamas, and saw what they described as “pavement” on the ocean floor.

A host of roughly rectangular stone slabs, they reported, rounded like loaves of bread by the sand and current over centuries, formed a flawlessly straight line. Its main feature stretched over 2,600 feet and curved like a “J” at one end. There were two smaller line features. Megalithic in size, the blocks were each 7 to 13 feet wide with right angles and seemed laid level by human hands.

A satellite view of Bimini. (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bimini_island.jpg">Public Domain</a>)
A satellite view of Bimini. Public Domain
A map of North Bimini showing Bimini Road. (Rainer Lesniewski/Shutterstock)
A map of North Bimini showing Bimini Road. Rainer Lesniewski/Shutterstock

The anomaly posed many questions to scientists.

How did it form? Was it made by man or nature? Could advanced civilizations have existed so early as to make this—in the Ice Age? Before the region sank beneath the sea 10,000 years ago? Or could nature have created something so fine-tuned? Thus began a clash of ideas.

There were two camps.

One dove down and saw a man-made road. Scientists and amateurs alike looked, and their eyes told them enough: this could not be natural.

The other camp was more skeptical. To avoid rocking the boat (figuratively speaking), they used science to explain the road to fit the foregoing research: it was natural.

As discoveries go, this one saw funded scientists fly in to investigate. Eugene Shinn from the University of Miami’s Department of Geology was foremost among them. Mr. Shinn dove down in 1978 and took radiocarbon core samples. Ultimately, he stated, it was beachrock—a mix of sand, shells, and cement—created by nature.

Megalithic blocks form a line on the seafloor off North Bimini. (FtLaud/Shutterstock)
Megalithic blocks form a line on the seafloor off North Bimini. FtLaud/Shutterstock

The so-called “consensus” of science that grew out of Mr. Shinn’s research, more or less, says this: Bimini Road formed under the surface of the island.

It was exposed by coastal erosion some 2,000 years ago. Its gaps at regular intervals were opened by natural jointing. This view is widely held and amplified on Wikipedia today.

The other camp is less uniform. Visiting Bimini Road, the notion was put forward: there was “overwhelming evidence that the road is made-made.” Their voices spoke from less lavish soapboxes: alternative media, websites, books, anecdotes. Much of it smacks of “New Age” and probably is sprinkled (or drenched) with misinformation to smear those brave voices speaking truth to orthodoxy. And there were voices whose minds changed.

Among the theorists, archaeologist William Donato suggested that Bimini Road isn’t a road; the line of stones forms a wall known as a breakwater, built to protect a prehistoric settlement from waves. This engendered its alter ego: Bimini Wall.

One of the strongest arguments for a man-made Bimini Road comes from Gavin Menzies’s (former British Submarine Commander and amateur historian) book, “1421: The Year China Discovered the World.” He writes: “Small stones are placed underneath larger ones, apparently to make the sea-bed level;” the structure “contains arrow-shaped ‘pointers’ that can only have been man-made;” and “some small square stones have tongue and grooved joints.”

Mr. Menzies, considered an outlier in both camps, believes ancient Chinese explorers anchored here and built the road as a slipway to repair a ship.

In 2022, British author Graham Hancock appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast to discuss the road. He said it was artificially “propped up” and “leveled out” with smaller rocks. “When you dive on it,” he told Mr. Rogan, “it’s impossible to believe it’s entirely the work of nature.”

And there have been accounts that got their wires crossed.

Stones ranging from 7 to 13 feet in width pave the underwater road at North Bimini. (FtLaud/Shutterstock)
Stones ranging from 7 to 13 feet in width pave the underwater road at North Bimini. FtLaud/Shutterstock

Ironically, both Wikipedia and Mr. Menzies offer polar opposite arguments but cite the same man.

Mr. Menzies noted David Zink, who explored Bimini Road in 1974, mentioning “small stones” under the larger ones being a second layer beneath the Bimini Road. Wikipedia also cited Mr. Zink but with a reversal: the conclusion about this second layer “was likely incorrect.”

Amid all the clashing, we managed to obtain exclusive insight into the debacle.

Bimini Road, also called Bimini Wall, is believed to have been built to protect a prehistoric settlement from waves. (FtLaud/Shutterstock)
Bimini Road, also called Bimini Wall, is believed to have been built to protect a prehistoric settlement from waves. FtLaud/Shutterstock

Psychologist Greg Little, author of “Edgar Cayce’s Atlantis,” revealed to the newspaper another flip-flop. He claims to have evidence of scientists altering core samples to support that Bimini Road was naturally formed. He says they admitted being pressured to do so by “all the craziness” surrounding Bimini Road, that it was “done for fun,” and it was done “to make a good story.”

To verify Mr. Little’s claims, the scientist in question was contacted directly who replied they were “not going to nit-pick over Little’s concerns.”

If true, the claim raises questions: Why would the orthodoxy mislead? What do they stand to gain by disproving ancient man’s involvement in the creation of Bimini Road?

This was posed to Mr. Little, who drew on psychology to explain:

“All contradictions to their beliefs are probably perceived as a direct threat to them professionally and psychologically,“ he said. ”The long history of science has countless examples of widely held beliefs that were proven wrong by research. But even in the face of incontrovertible proof that these beliefs were wrong, many so-called scientists refused to accept the new evidence.”

As for Bimini Road—whether it’s case-closed, as the “consensus” says, or mysterious as ever—there’s perhaps a way to know: Visit Bimini Road. Swim the crystal blue waters. Witness its wonders yourself with your eyes. For the Silo via Michael Wing & friends at theepochtimes.com.