Three Supermoon In A Row

The Moon's orbit around Earth is not a circle, it's an ellipse. When a full Moon occurs on the near side of the orbit, it looks extra big and bright, and we call it a "supermoon." The first of three such full Moons arrived on July 12th

Today's full Moon is a perigee "supermoon," as much as 14% closer and 30% brighter than other full moons of the year. John Stetson photographed the swollen orb setting over Sebago Lake, Maine, this morning just minutes after sunrise:

"An inferior mirage appears in the foreground where the lake meets the shoreline," points out Stetson.

Thiis was just the first of three supermooons in a row. Two more are coming on August 10th and September 9th.

"This weekend I was on my deck taking some zoom photos of the supermoon when an airplane flew by," says photographer Ralfo Winter. "It was coming in for a landing at New York City."

As explained in a video from Science@NASA, the technical term for this phenomenon is "perigee Moon." A nearby perigee Moon can be 14% brighter and 30% bigger than other full Moons of the year.

This kind of Moon is not particularly rare; they come along every 13 months, more or less.

However, this summer we will have three supermoons in a row. The next one is August 12th. Book your ticket now.

Spaceweather
13 Jul 2014