On Monday, 14 November, the moon will be the biggest and brightest it has been in more than 60 years.
A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth.
By Richard Nolle’s definition, the new moon or full moon has to come within 361,836 kilometers (224,834 miles) of our planet, as measured from the centers of the moon and Earth, in order to be considered a supermoon.
Wherever you are, sunset and moonrise are going to be fairly close to one another. If you want to see the supermoon along with a moon illusion, then you should try to see the moon as it rises, making sure to see it as it’s hovering over the horizon. That means heading out around sunset, and looking to the East.
In most of the Northern hemisphere, where it’s approaching winter and the sun is setting early, the moon will rise just after sunset.
In much of the southern hemisphere, where the days are getting longer, the moon will rise just before sunset. But in either case, you should get a good view of the moon around sunset.
In some regions, the moon’s biggest illumination – when it is most full – will actually be either 13 or 15 November. But on 14 November, it will be about 99% illuminated everywhere. And that's when the moon will be at its closest to the Earth.
A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth.
Photo: Supermoon 2015 from Medieval Village of Monsaraz by Miguel Claro
By Richard Nolle’s definition, the new moon or full moon has to come within 361,836 kilometers (224,834 miles) of our planet, as measured from the centers of the moon and Earth, in order to be considered a supermoon.
More often than not, the one day of the year that the full moon and perigee align also brings about the year’s closest perigee (also called proxigee). Because the moon has recurring cycles, we can count on the full moon and perigee to come in concert in periods of about one year, one month and 18 days.
Dates of closest full supermoons in future years:
Therefore, the full moon and perigee realign in periods of about one year and 48 days. So we can figure the dates of the closest full moons in recent and future years as:
How to see the supermoon:November 14, 2016January 2, 2018.
Wherever you are, sunset and moonrise are going to be fairly close to one another. If you want to see the supermoon along with a moon illusion, then you should try to see the moon as it rises, making sure to see it as it’s hovering over the horizon. That means heading out around sunset, and looking to the East.
In most of the Northern hemisphere, where it’s approaching winter and the sun is setting early, the moon will rise just after sunset.
In much of the southern hemisphere, where the days are getting longer, the moon will rise just before sunset. But in either case, you should get a good view of the moon around sunset.
When a full moon makes its closest pass to Earth in its orbit it appears up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter, making it a supermoon.
This month’s is especially ‘super’ for two reasons: it is the only supermoon this year to be completely full, and it is the closest moon to Earth since 1948.
The moon won’t be this super again until 2034.
Source: Wikipedia, EarthSky
~~~~~~~~~~~
If you like this, please forward it to a friend.
If you enjoyed it or received this from a friend and enjoyed,
you can subscribe here...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.