Perhaps you haven’t given much thought to what exactly happened to the Titanic that caused it to sink in the ice waters of the Atlantic Ocean. However, scientists continue to be baffled as to what lead to the ship’s demise. One new theory has a different take, as it argues the moon was so big before the accident that it could actually be the underlying cause of the Titanic’s demise.

In the early morning of an April day in the 1912, the Titanic was reaching the end of its first and last voyage across the Atlantic. 1,517 people died that day and the mighty ship found its rest at the bottom of the ocean. The cause of the tragedy was the collapse with an iceberg.

Several things have puzzled historians, movie buffs and scientists since then. First of all many have wondered why did Captain Edward Smith has dismissed the iceberg warnings and continued on the same course. This is particularly mind boggling since Smith had a reputation as one of the most experienced and professional captains with the White Star Line.

However, Donald Olson, physicist with the Texas State University argues that the particular type of iceberg that the Titanic hit tend to remain within the waters near Newfoundland and Labrador. Until these icebergs would melt or a high tide would move them, these blocks of ice are stuck in shallow water.

The Titanic had encountered the Greenland icebergs a long way south from Newfoundland and a team of scientists says they have found the answer to what had moved the icebergs such a long way, taking Captain Smith by surprise.

It seems that in January 1912, the moon came so close to the Earth that it might have easily created high tides that would have been able to carry the Greenland icebergs into shipping lanes. Olson explained that the January 4th 1912 event was a “once-in-many-lifetimes” sort of occurrence. Interesting enough is that the previous day, the Earth was at its closest point to the sun throughout the year.

“This configuration maximized the moon’s tide-raising forces on the Earth’s oceans” said Olson. Even if it remains a theory, the concept might be able to explain other natural calamities across the history.