The biggest and brightest supermoon in almost seven decades will soar across the night skies on Monday, November 14.
The Moon’s orbit follows an elliptical path around the Earth. When our satellite is full at the perigee of this orbit, it is known as Supermoon.
A lot of celestial bodies affect the eccentricity of the Moon’s orbit through gravity. The Sun, for sure, but also Jupiter, and many others. This eccentricity ‘extends’ the elliptical path and causes the Moon to pass closer to Earth.
And Earth’s heavenly partner will be at its closest to our planet since 1948. On Monday, the Moon will be just 221,524 miles away from us. Some NASA scientists have deemed it ‘extra-supermoon’, due to this unusual proximity. The Moon will not be that close to Earth until 2034.
At its perigee, the Moon will look 14pc larger than normal. And it will appear a whole lot brighter than normal, too, as Earth’s journey through space takes it near the Sun at this time of year, and the Moon’s radiance will shine about 30pc more luminosity on Earth’s surface.
So go and watch the skies, as this supermoon will be one not to miss!