October 5, November 5 and December 4

You can’t miss it. It’ll be super-sized.

As NASA explains it…

Since the moon’s orbit is elliptical, one side (perigee) is about 30,000 miles closer to Earth than the other (apogee). The word syzygy, in addition to being useful in word games, is the scientific name for when the Earth, sun, and moon line up as the moon orbits Earth. When perigee-syzygy of the Earth-moon-sun system occurs and the moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun, we get a perigee moon or more commonly, a supermoon!

A supermoon, or perigee full moon can be as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than an apogee full moon.

Mark your calendar for October 5 (Harvest Moon), November 5 (Beaver Moon) and December 4 (Cold Moon) and enjoy the super moonlight.

[button-green url=”http://earthsky.org/?p=268284″ target=”_blank” position=”left”]Learn more[/button-green]

Image: “Supermoon” by Sammy K, Creative Commons

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