Supermoon lights up the dark night skies
The term 'supermoon' was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle, not an astronomer.- The supermoon happens when moon is full and makes it closest approach to Earth in her orbit.
- Although the full moon and perigee didn't exactly overlap this month, the supermoon next month — on Sept. 28, 2015 — will coincide with the full moon, making it the biggest and closest moon of the year.
- This month’s perigee occured on Sunday, that’s about 18 hours after the Saturday night full moon. So the August supermoon was not quite full.
- What skywatchers are most interested in is perigee, the date and time when the moon is closest to Earth.
- Because the moon has an elliptical orbit, instead of revolving around the Earth in a perfect circle, there is a time when it is farthest from us — the apogee — and a time when it is closest — the perigee.
- There were four supermoons earlier in the year, and there are two supermoons remaining in 2015: September 28 and October 27.
The term 'supermoon' was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle, not an astronomer.
Supermoon lights up the dark night skies
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