The moon became totally full at 10.47 EST (1547 GMT) a.m. on 3rd December and it officially reached perigee on December 4 at 3:45 a.m. EST (0845 GMT), when it was 222,135 miles (357,492 kilometers) away from Earth.
Specifically, it happens when a full moon approximately coincides with the moon’s perigee or another point in its orbit at which it is closest to Earth: it appears up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than usual.
For those of you who don’t know, a perigee is “the point in the orbit of an object (such as a satellite) orbiting the earth that is nearest to the centre of the earth”, according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary.
The astrologer Richard Nolle coined the term “supermoon” in 1979, explaining also that it causes real physical effects, such as larger-than-usual tides.
This phenomenon doesn’t happen every month because the moon’s orbit changes orientation as the Earth goes around the sun, sure enough the 2017 has had 4 supermoons (April, May, June and December), only the December one was visible in our sky.
Due to a little-understood optical effect called “moon illusion”, the full moon could seem huge when rising behind distant objects on the horizon.
That’s been an amazing and so-clear sight!
For those who couldn’t see it, we propose you this amateur, giving you the gist.
(written by Carlotta Bellisai – Communication and Public Relation Responsible)
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