Supermoon: NASA scientist explains why moon appears ‘brighter’
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The June 24 Supermoon will be the final one of 2021. It will occur when the Strawberry Moon, the name given to June’s Full Moon, rises. As such, it has been dubbed the Super Strawberry Moon.
When will the Supermoon rise?
For the days on either side of June 24, the Moon will appear at its maximum to the naked eye.
However, on closer inspection, by using telescopes, one will be able to see that a slight slither of the Moon is still hiding behind Earth’s shadow.
According to the Royal Greenwich Observatory, the Moon will reach its absolute peak at 7.39pm BST on June 24.
On average, the Moon is 238,000 miles from Earth, but during a Supermoon the can be 221,000 miles away from our planet.
This is because the Moon’s orbit is not a perfect circle and is actually slightly oval.
When it is at its closest point, the Moon is known as a Supermoon.
However, there is a slight debate as to whether this is indeed a true Supermoon.
A Supermoon was first defined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979.
He said the Moon can only be considered ‘super’ when the Moon is at the closest approach – within 90 percent – of its orbit to Earth.
NASA has said the coming one may be slightly too far.
The space agency stated: “Different publications use slightly different thresholds for deciding when a full Moon is close enough to the Earth to qualify as a supermoon.
“For 2021, some publications consider this full Moon the last of a series of four supermoons (from March to June).
“Other publications do not consider this a supermoon, as it is farther from Earth (and smaller in apparent size and brightness) than the previous three full Moons.”
According to Time & Date, we will have to wait a year until the next one which takes place on June 14, 2022.
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