total lifetimes have come and gone without the moon looking quite as prominent as it will this calendar month . On November 14th , skygazers will find the close full moonshine , or “ supermoon , ” of 2016 . But more excitingly , it ’ll be the closelipped full moon since 1948 — and we wo n’t get another one like it until 2034 .
The reason the moon come out to quail and grow in the sky is that its electron orbit is not a perfect circle , but rather , a humble oval . As the moon swings between its closest point ( perigee ) and its furthest point ( apogee ) , its space to Earth varies by approximately 30,000 mil . This translates to a sizing mutant comparable to the difference between a Ni and a quarter .
Full moons and new moons pass off when the Earth , sun and moon all form a line , something stargazer call “ syzygy . ” When the moon is on the opposite side of the Earth as the sun during syzygy , it appears full . And when this particular celestial coalition also happens to coincide with perigee , we get an exceptionally near full moon , also bed as a perigee moon or a supermoon .
A full lunation at perigee can appear up to 14 percent large and 30 percent brighter than a full moonlight at apogee . But even among the elite perigee moon , there ’s some variation in size . That ’s because the sun and moon — being moving objects in space rather than circles on a diagram — very rarely line up exactly at perigee . And , to a less extent , because the Earth ’s distance to the sun alteration during its field , too .
What urinate the November 14th moon so especial is that it turns full at 1:52pm UTC ( 9:52am ET ) , two and a half hours after slay perigee at 11:23 UTC ( 7:52am ET ) . This is the closest a full moon has to total to hit perigee on the olfactory organ since January 26th , 1948 , and the closest it will do for another 18 years , until November 25th , 2034 .
All in all , it ’ll be the prominent Sun Myung Moon in an 86 year period , which is pretty damn coolheaded . Although , as NASA Planetary Program Executive Gordon Johnston notes , it ’ll be very hard to tell the dispute between this first-rate - dupermoon and more ordinary supermoons with the naked eye . “ You ’d need a ruler , ” he say .
fit in to Johnston , if you ’re on the East Coast , the best time to check out this once - in - a - life supermoon is going to be too soon on the morning of November 14th , before the moon set and the sky protrude to lighten up at dawn . Not only is pre - penetrate the confining to the full moon perigee us East Coasters are going to get , but — added fillip — as the moon sets , it can appear artificially large , owing to the fact that your brain lead off measure it against other objects on the visible horizon .
So : limit an other alert for the 14th , and get ready to bask in the halo of the most vivid supermoon the modern existence has watch .
[ EarthSky , NASA ]
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