A team of astronomers from the Texas State University have discovered that a rare lunar event had actually caused the Titanic disaster.
Astronomers discovered that an unusually close approach by the moon on 4 January, 1912, might have caused abnormally high tides, when the moon's perigee was at its closest in 1,400 years.
"It was the closest approach of the moon to the Earth in more than 1,400 years, and this configuration maximized the moon's tide-raising forces on Earth's oceans. That's remarkable," said Donald Olson, professor at the Texas State University in a statement.
Another rare coincidence which occurred a day before the disaster was the Earth's closest approach to the Sun.
Astronomers believe that this rare combination of the moon and Sun's closest approach could have also been the major reason behind the disaster.
According to the astronomers, icebergs normally remain in place and cannot resume moving southward until they've melted enough to refloat or a high enough tide frees them.
But the unusually high tide on 4 January, 1912 would have been a major cause for those icebergs to move them back into the southbound ocean currents, where they collided with the Titanic.
The Titanic collided with an iceberg on the night of 14 April, 1912, and it sunk within hours.
More than 1,500 people lost their lives in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
Take a look at the pictures:
At 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, lookout Frederick Fleet used the telephone in the crow's nest to call the Titanic's bridge with the warning, "Iceberg, right ahead!"Texas State UniversityThe iceberg depositied a quantity of ice in the forward well deck of the Titanic during the collision. This 1912 illustration of the iceberg passing along the starboard side of the ship was based primarily on the account by Able Seaman Joseph Scarrott, who made is observations from the well deck.Texas State UniversityAt sunrise on April 15, 1912, the Titanic survivors in lifeboats saw that they were surrounded by a field of ice that included icebergs towering 150 to 200 feet above the water level. This depiction, titled "L'Aurore qui suivit la nuit tragique (The Dawn the Followed the Tragic Night)," appeared in the French periodical L'Illustration in 1912.Texas State UniversityRussia Plans to Send Man to the Moon by 2030Texas State UniversityThis map shows the known route of the Titanic and a possible path for the iceberg. We will never know the iceberg's actual trajectory, but modern knowledge of currents and drift patterns make this a highly plausible scenario. Had it not been for the enhanced tidal effects a few months earlier, the iceberg might have run aground on the Labrador or Newfoundland coast, and remained permanently stuck until it melted.Texas State UniversityGlaciers on the west side of Greenland are the source for the vast majority of the icebergs carried by ocean currents into the North Atlantic shipping lanes. The ends of the glaciers are broken off and set adrift as icebergs in the process known as calving. This aerial photograph shows icebergs from an especially prolific site, Jakobshaven Glacier at the east end of Disko Bay.Texas State UniversityAs icebergs travel from the Arctic to the North Atlantic shipping lanes, they can drift into shallow water and run aground along the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland. This photograph shows a grounded iceberg near Dunfield, Newfoundland.Newfoundland and Labrador TourThis late afternoon scene shows five grounded icebergs along the coastline near Herring Cove, Newfoundland.Texas State University
