Quantcast
ZME Science
  • CoronavirusNEW
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Space Astronomy

Titanic sank, but iceberg is innocent – blame it on the Moon

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
March 6, 2012
in Astronomy, Other

For almost 100 years it carried the blame of sinking the world’s most famous ship, but now, the ill-famed iceberg may be cleared, after some researchers claim they’ve found the true culprit – the Moon.

Now don’t get the wrong idea, it was the collision with the ice mass that ultimately brought the demise of the Titanic, but it was a freak lunar event three months earlier that put the obstacle in the ship’s path, scientists claim. An incredibly rare combination of astronomical events led to this collision, including the closest lunar approach in 1400 which led to an incredibly large tide in January 1912.

This once-in-a-turtle-lifetime event swept a vast field of icebergs from their normal positions and brought one to the lane where it was when it sank the Titanic on April 14th, claiming 1500 lives and destroying the ship which was thought to be ‘unsinkable’.

Prof Donald Olson of Texas State University who led the study and published it in the Sky and Telescope magazine explains:

Get more science news like this...

Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

“They went full speed into a region with icebergs, that’s really what sank the ship, but the lunar connection may explain how an unusually large number of icebergs got into the path of the Titanic.”

Unusually large tides such as the one in case are known as spring tides, and they occur when the Moon and the Sun are aligned in a way that sums up their gravitational pull. Professor Olson adds:

“We don’t claim to know exactly where the Titanic iceberg was in January 1912 – nobody can know that – but this is a plausible scenario intended to be scientifically reasonable.”

You could also put it this way: it wasn’t the iceberg that sank the Titanic, it even wasn’t the spring tides – it was human arrogance – which claimed nobody and nothing can sink the ship. As usual when we challenge it, nature put us in our place.

Tags: gravitational pullicebergspring tidetitanic
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

Follow ZME on social media

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.