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Stock image, St. George News
ST. GEORGE – A supermoon destined to illuminate the sky this Tuesday comes at a special time of the year, traditionally designated by the Amerindians as the "snow moon".
This spectacular combination should give a new meaning to "in the light of the silver moon" as the great lunar night light dances through the winter sky.
This supermoon is supposed to be the closest, the biggest and the brightest of its kind until 2026 and is the second of three supermoons that take place one after the other in 2019.
While the best time to watch the show in southern Utah is at 2:53 pm Pacific time, the moon will be the brightest at 8:53 pm Pacific, about six hours after the closest approach to the moon, or perigee.
Supermoon training
When the perigee takes place, the moon appears larger and brighter in the sky because its orbit is not a perfect circle because of the gravitational forces of the sun and the earth, so that the distance from the moon to the Earth varies during the year.
The next supermoon will be nestled at a distance of about 221,600 miles from Earth. According to EarthSky, this moment is considered "100% of its closest approach for the year", which is a little closer than the average distance of the Moon, to nearly 239,000 miles from Earth.
Moon of snow
Tuesday's supermoon takes place during a "snow moon", a term invented by the Indians to designate the full moon as it appears in February. According to the Almanac of the Old Farmer, this name evokes the cold of the year when this moon occurs, when there is snow on the ground.
Making the event of Tuesday even more remarkable, just hours before the super moon, the surface of the moon will be 100% illuminated by the sun, creating a perfectly full moon.
According to NASA, this combination of the moon closest to Earth and reaching its greatest illumination from the sun will create an exceptionally bright super-moon from Earth.
Effects of supermoons
Although "supermoon" is not an astronomical technical term, it was invented for the first time in 1979 by Richard Nolle to describe the moment when the moon is within 90% of its closest approach to the Earth in a given orbit.
"In short, the earth, the sun and the moon are aligned, the moon coming closest to the earth," said Nolle in a 1979 article in Horoscope magazine.
Nolle claimed that supermons can contribute to extreme coastal tides, violent storms, powerful earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. However, according to NASA, although the alignment of the sun and the moon causes a slight increase in tectonic activity, the effects of a super moon on Earth are minor. Numerous studies over the years have shown no significant link between a super moon and natural disasters.
The third and final supermoon of the year will be held during the "Worm Moon", which will reach its full phase on March 20 at 19:43. STDs.
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