to Earth.
To us the moon appears 30 per cent brighter and 14 per cent bigger to the naked
eye.
Supermoon is not an astrological term, its scientific name is "Perigee Full Moon", but
supermoon more catchy and is used by the media to describe our celestial neighbour when
it gets up close.
Astrologer Richard Nolle first came up with the term and he defined it as "..a new moon
which occurs with the moon at or near , within 90 per cent off, it's closest approach to
Earth in a given orbit",
Octobers full moon is known as the Hunter's moon because it appears very soon after sunset,
and traditionally generated more light for farmers working in the fields also hunters to
spot wildlife.
While the moon might look close to earth, but when it is closer than normal it leads to
slightly higher tides.
We have already had three supermoons this year so far but there is another three to come,
October 16th.. today
November 14th
December 14th
In November the full moon will be the closest supermoon of the year, the moon will be..
221,524 miles from the Earth-almost in touching distance in space terms, in fact the November
moon will be the closest the moon has got to Earth so far this century, it won't be this
close again until November 25th, 2034.
The closest full moon of the whole of the 21st century will fall on December 6th, 2052!
The moon will be most visible at 18.04 inn the UK, when the moon is closest to the horizon.
As well as being closer and brighter, the moon will look orange and red around this time, this
is because as moonlight passes through the thicker section of the atmosphere , light
particles at the red end of the spectrum don't scatter as easily as the light at the blue end
of the spectrum.
So when the moon looks red, you're just looking at red light that wasn't scattered.
As the moon gets higher into the sky, it returns to its normal white/yellow colour.