A supermoon will light up the night skies on Sunday, offering stargazers and astronomers a glimpse at the biggest and brightest full moon of 2017.
Supermoons occur about once a year when the moon comes closest to the earth in its orbit and, although fairly common, they are still spectacular to view, , the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
A supermoon causes certain physical effects on the Earth, with its gravitational pull causing larger than usual tides, CBS noted, but NASA has dismissed previous notions that it could bring about “extreme flooding, earthquakes, fires, volcanic eruptions, severe weather," and tsunamis.
"The moon will appear up to 14 percent larger than it would appear if it was at its most distant point," said Gerald McKeegan, an astronomer at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, per the Chronicle.
Last year’s supermoon stole the show, coming as close to the Earth as it ever has since 1948, CNN reported.
Michelle Nichols, director of public observing at Chicago's Adler Planetarium, explained this phenomena to CNN.
"The moon's orbit is not a perfect circle,” she said. “It's more like an oval, so at times it's closer to the Earth than it is at other times. The difference in distance between these close and far points can be as much as about 30,000 miles."
Those wanting to view the supermoon in all its glory should note that the moon will become totally full at 10:47 a.m. EST on Sunday, Space.com reported.
The moon will reach its closest point the following day, on Dec. 4 at 3:45 a.m., when it is a mere 222,135 miles from Earth.
If you miss Sunday’s supermoon don’t worry, there will be two more in January.
According to CBS, the first two full moons of 2018 will both be supermoons and will occur on Jan. 2 and on Jan. 31.
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