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A Supermoon Is Expected To Be Bigger and Brighter Tonight

A Supermoon Is Expected To Be Bigger and Brighter Tonight

It will be 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than normal so if you're a budding photographer get out your camera.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

There's not a whole lot to get excited about on Sunday, mainly because the dreaded Monday is just around the corner and you might have woken up with a lot less in your bank account because of a heavy night out.

But tonight, people can get mildly enthusiastic because a supermoon is expected to wow people across the world.

Supermoon
Supermoon

Credit: PA

According to NASA, the moon will be 14 percent bigger than normal and 30 percent brighter. Hopefully it's not cloudy wherever you live because that would kind of suck. But if that's the case, fear not, as this evening's supermoon is one of three expected in the next two months.

Billed as a supermoon trilogy, we can expect another one on New Year's Day and January 31. That last one will also be on the same day as a full lunar eclipse.

"The supermoons are a great opportunity for people to start looking at the Moon, not just that once but every chance they have," says Noah Petro, a research scientist from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Supermoon
Supermoon

Credit: PA

Just so we're clear, the moon doesn't physically get bigger, but it just comes closer to Earth and therefore appears bigger. It'll reportedly be 26,000 miles closer to Earth than usual.

Tom Kerss, of the Royal Observatory, in Greenwich, South East London has told the Sun: "It's close enough to qualify as a supermoon.

"It will reach its highest point above the horizon at midnight. It's perfectly safe to look directly at it, even with a telescope or binoculars."

There are roughly four to six supermoons every year, according to Earth Sky, and the term has only been around for 30 years.

Supermoon
Supermoon

Credit: PA

Before that, it used to be called a perigee full moon, or a perigee new moon - which doesn't exactly have the same ring to it. Perigee just means 'near earth', so I think we can all agree that supermoon sounds more badass.

If you're a keen surfer then this is the time to jump in the water as a closer moon brings with it higher tides.

The last supermoon was way back in November 14 last year and the one expected for New Year's Day will be one of the closest the moon has come to our gorgeous planet this decade.

Another feature of the lunar moment is a reddish hue that produced from the way our atmosphere bends light during sunset.

Sources: Sun, NASA, Earth Sky

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Interesting, Community, Moon