Nocturnal Pests and the Dark Supermoon

Some say that strange things happen on a full moon, and there are certainly a lot of pests like bed bugs and cockroaches which creep out under the cover of darkness. Tonight there will be a dark supermoon which means the moon is closer to earth than it normally is, but we won’t be able to see it as the sun and moon will be in the same region of the sky.

Tonight the moon will be 222,175 miles away from Earth. The average distance of the moon from Earth is roughly 240,000 miles which makes the moon (when it is visible) around 12% larger and brighter, and makes for some great photography.

When the moon is closer to earth there are slightly higher and lower ocean tides. There evidence the reproduction system of marine invertebrates and badgers are influenced by the moon and moths use the light of the moon to navigate.

Let’s hope that nocturnal pests like bed bugs, cockroaches, moths, rats, mice and urban foxes aren’t lured out in force tonight.