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In praise of ... supermoons In praise of ... supermoons
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Look out of your window over the next few days and – cloud cover permitting – the moon will appear bigger and brighter than usual. This is not romance, nor even a harvest moon, which is something quite different. The moon does indeed hang larger in the night sky, because it is a supermoon. Muse to astronomers and poets alike, a supermoon occurs when the moon is at its closest approach to the Earth, known as at full perigee, some 221,765 miles away, while simultaneously coming to a full phase. This gives it the appearance of being 14% larger and 30% brighter than usual. There will be three supermoons this year but this week’s will be the brightest, dominating the night skyline all around the world. It can be seen to a lesser degree over the week as the moon wanes, giving ample time for would-be poets to draw inspiration from our nearest neighbour. The last supermoon of the year will be in late September. Look out of your window over the next few days and – cloud cover permitting – the moon will appear bigger and brighter than usual. This is not romance, nor even a harvest moon, which is something quite different. The moon does indeed hang larger in the night sky, because it is a supermoon. Muse to astronomers and poets alike, a supermoon occurs when the moon is at its closest approach to the Earth, known as at full perigee, some 221,765 miles away, while simultaneously coming to a full phase. This gives it the appearance of being 14% larger and 30% brighter than usual. There will be three supermoons this year but this week’s will be the brightest, dominating the night skyline all around the world. It can be seen to a lesser degree over the week as the moon wanes, giving ample time for would-be poets to draw inspiration from our nearest neighbour. The last supermoon of the year will be on 9 September.• This article was amended on 12 August 2014. The original stated that the last supermoon of the year will be in late September. This has been corrected.