December 1, 2017

Supermoon to Brighten Sky this Weekend

Supermoons occur when the moon is closest to the Earth in its orbit, and simultaneously full.

Full moon NASA Image of a full moon from NASA.
NASA

A full moon will glow in the night sky this Sunday, but not a standard, about-every-30-days kind of full moon. This one will be a supermoon, which happens when the moon is closest to the Earth in its orbit.

"It’s called a supermoon because since it’s a little closer it’ll appear a little bigger in the sky and be that much brighter," said Adam Block, who works at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory.

He said supermoons look about 14 percent bigger and shine around 30 percent brighter than a normal full moon.

"And when the moon is low on the horizon, if people should go outside and see the moon rise, it can be incredibly beautiful."

In Tucson, the moon will rise at 5:38 p.m. Sunday. But Block says he thinks the moon will look even better the day before it’s totally full, on Saturday, when it will rise at 5:00 p.m.

"Because the sun will just have set and the moon is just coming up, it looks better against the twilight sky."

MORE: News, Science
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona