If you look at the sky Wednesday night, you’ll likely see the moon shining bigger and brighter than usual.
You will be looking at the second supermoon of the year – the term for when the moon’s orbit is closest to earth’s while it is full.
“I think people forget a lot about the time to look up,” said Dr Sara Webb, an Australian astrophysicist at Swinburne University in Melbourne.
“It’s nice to go out and look at the sky … and enjoy a full moon when you can.”
What is a supermoon?
The Earth’s moon is not always the same distance from the Earth.
“When it’s at its closest approach, that’s when we call any full moon a supermoon,” Webb says.
The supermoon will be about 357,000 km from Earth – 27,000 km closer than it normally is. “Quite a distance,” as Webb notes.
There are normally between two and four supermoons per year.
Where can I see it?
The best way to see the supermoon is like this rise above the horizon“where you can really get that perspective of it compared to things on Earth,” Webb says.
It will fall around 6pm for people in Sydney and Melbourne, 7pm for those in London and New Yorkand 7:30 PM for the US West Coast.
Find a viewing spot that is dark and faces the east, which is where the moon will rise. Places on the east coast of Australia in Brisbane and Sydney are excellent viewing spots, says Webb.
Dr Bradley Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University in Canberra, says the rising supermoon will look “really cool” in any flat location, such as the US east coast or central Australia.
Webb says to avoid places full of buildings. “Once it gets to a certain point in the sky, it will look like any other full moon.”
The supermoon will reach its highest and fullest point in the sky around midnight in Australia and just after 10.30pm on the US East Coast.
If you miss this supermoon, don’t worry. Two more will take place this year on October 17 and November 15.
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What about the supermoon eclipse?
A partial lunar eclipse will also occur on Wednesday, but it will not be visible from Australia. The best places to see that phenomenon are South America, west Africa and Western Europe, says Tucker.
“It happens during (the Australian) day, and the moon is going to be on the other side of the Earth,” Webb says.
The phenomenon occurs when the moon appears to be in line with the sun. Lunar and solar eclipses are coincidental alignments of “our three kinds of celestial bodies,” Webb says. “Our earth is between the sun and the moon.”
A partial eclipse is “not quite in line,” but is still something to look out for.
One of the most remarkable lunar phenomena is a total lunar eclipse – often referred to as a blood moonsaid Webb.
What is the harvest supermoon?
The US calls the moon monthly. “Historically and culturally, it was related to different things that would happen throughout the year,” Tucker explains.
September’s moon also happens to be a supermoon. It is called the Harvest Moon because mid-September is when the fall harvest begins.
“So the Harvest Moon really doesn’t make sense to us [in the southern hemisphere] because it’s kind of the reverse,” says Tucker.
