Up Close With The 'Super' Supermoon On November 14, The Biggest And Brightest In 60 Years

First Posted: Nov 11, 2016 03:20 AM EST
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The supermoon on Nov. 14, Monday, will be remarkably "super" because it is the closest full Moon to the planet Earth since 1948. You won't see this type of supermoon till 2034.

Noah Petro, the deputy project scientists for NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, said that he has been telling people to go out at night on either Sunday or Monday night to see the supermoon. He explained that the difference in distance from one night to the next will be very subtle, so if it is cloudy on Sunday, go out on Monday. He added that any time after sunset should be fine.

NASA stated that the moon is at perigee at 6:22 a.m. EST and "opposite" the Sun for the full Moon at 8:52 a.m. EST (after moonset for most of the U.S.). This supermoon will the biggest and the brightest Moon for onlookers in the United States that day.

A supermoon is also referred to as full Moon or a new Moon. It is the time wherein the Moon is at its closest approach to the planet Earth on its elliptical orbit. This makes the Moon at its largest apparent size and at its brightest. Its technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system.

The Moon's orbit is elliptical. With this, one side (perigee) is estimated 30,000 miles closer to Earth than the other (apogee). When the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun-system transpires, the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. At the point of perigee, the Moon is closest to Earth. On the other hand, at apogee, the Moon is farthest from the planet Earth. T

he Moon seems larger and shines about 30 percent more moonlight onto the planet Earth, according to Mail Online.

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