‘Supermoon’ lights up world skies

June 24, 2013

Supermoon occurred on June 23, 2013, as the closest and largest full moon of the year and the Moon’s closest encounter with Earth for all of 2013.
What is a Supermoon?
A supermoon is a situation of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth. The technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system. It is called a Supermoon because this is a very noticeable alignment that at first glance would seem to have an effect.
How does it occur?
The Moon which is a natural satellite of the Earth revolves around it in an elliptical orbit rather than a circular one. While revolving, when it reaches the perigee (closest point to Earth from its orbit) , the Moon is about 356,992 km away, as compared to the 405,696 km away that it is at its furthest distance from the Earth (apogee). This closeness combined with the coincident of a full moon gives it a bigger look from the Earth.
The next ‘Supermoon’ is expected to appear in August 2014.

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