Be prepared for something extraordinary on the night of 27 to 28 September: both the brightest full Moon of the year – and the dimmest full Moon. First, we are due a supermoon. Our celestial companion travels round the Earth in an orbit that’s distinctively oval. Every month, the Moon swings from a distance of 360,000km out to 405,000km. When it’s nearest, the Moon naturally looks bigger.
Most months, we’re not really aware of the Moon’s changing diameter. But it’s different when the Moon is closest at the same time as it’s full because its proximity makes the illuminated Moon even more brilliant. Everybody’s now calling this phenomenon a Supermoon – a phrase dreamt up not by astronomers but an astrologer.
On the night of 27 to 28 September, the Moon is closest to us at 2.46am, only an hour before it’s full. As a result, this supermoon will appear 14 per cent bigger in the sky than the Moon at its most distant and smallest, and it should be 30 per cent brighter. The Moon will certainly look unusually big and brilliant around 2am. But at 2.07am you’ll see a small chunk being nibbled out of its brilliant disc by the Earth’s shadow. Sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness, the Moon is totally eclipsed by 3.11am. It remains completely in the shadow of the Earth until 4.23am, when the full Moon gradually begins to emerge.
The post Stargazing in September: Supermoons and rising tides – the end of the world is nigh? appeared first on Trunews:.
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