Solstice Supermoon Fills Sky This Weekend
This weekend’s full moon will be the biggest and brightest of 2013.
**This moon, seen from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, was the largest of 2012. This year’s supermoon will occur on June 23, and appear 8 percent larger and 17 percent brighter.
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On June 23, the moon will be at its closest distance to Earth for 2013 while in its full phase. As a result, it will appear 8 percent larger and 17 percent brighter than usual—an event widely known as a supermoon.
And making it a bit more special, thanks to coincidental timing, this supermoon will be coming on the heels of the June solstice, which takes place only two days before.
**Armchair astronomers can also catch the sky show virtually via a live high-definition webcast of the supermoon through SLOOH telescopes in the Canary Islands, off the coast of Africa, starting at 9 p.m. EDT or 6 p.m. PDT on June 23.
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The monthly full moon always looks like a big disk, but because its orbit around the Earth is egg-shaped, there are times in the lunar cycle when the moon is at its shortest distance from Earth (called perigee) and times when the moon is at its farthest distance from Earth (called apogee).
Likewise, because the size of the moon’s orbit varies slightly, each month’s perigee is not always the same distance from Earth.
Two years ago, the so-called supermoon was the closest it’s been in two decades—only 356,575 kilometers from Earth.
Source : Solstice Supermoon Fills Sky This Weekend
I hope I will not forget to check it out!!!
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