Biggest supermoon in recent memory to appear

If the weather is good you should be able to see down the road without street lights Nov. 13-15, 2016. Full moons are typically bright. A full moon that is a supermoon because it is closer to Earth than normal is even brighter. The supermoon that starts next week is going to appear larger and outshine supermoons from the past 68 years.

The moon as seen from space. Photo compliments of NASA
The moon as seen from space. Photo compliments of NASA

That roundish object that is a space craft destination and the subject of mythology will be the closest it has been to earth since 1848. Or as sports fans might know, it was the year that the Indians last won baseball’s World Series.

There will be another supermoon on Dec. 14 this year but it won’t be quite as close. According to NASA, the next time a full moon will come as close to Earth as on Nov. 14, 2016 is Nov. 25, 2034.

It’s likely it will be hard to miss but Adler Planetarium astronomer Larry Ciupik had a couple of suggestions

“The closest it will be is at 5 a.m. (Central Time) the morning of Nov. 14,” Ciupik said. He pointed out that looking for the supermoon depends on the weather and time of night.

“When the sun sets, look east. Before the sun rises, look west. The moon rises in the east at sunset and sets in the west shortly before the sun rises,” he said.

He pointed out that it probably will look larger when it is on or near the horizon. “That is because when it is up high in the sky there is nothing to compare it to,” Ciupik said.

“That’s called moon illusion,” he said.

BTW, readers, the moon will look bright and large Sunday, Monday and Tuesday but it reaches its full crest early Monday morning. That will occur about the same time it reaches the perigee (technically perigee-syzgy) of its orbit. That is its closest point to Earth.

The opposite or farthest point of the moon’s orbit from the earth is its apogee-syzygy when it’s sometimes known as a mini-moon. Just remember that the orbit is elliptical, not round.

Other information can be found at NASA which is a good resource.

 

Author: Jodie

Longtime Chicago Tribune contributor for news and features. Travel writer for What's Happening, Lakeland Boating and A&E for CBS