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A supermoon occurs whenever the full moon or new moon comes near its closest Earth orbit, its perigee. Tonight's Supermoon also coincides with the lunar cycle's new moon stage. The new moon is the beginning and end of a lunar cycle, which lasts about 29.5 days. When a supermoon and a new moon appear the same night, a rare black moon is born.
What's a Supermoon?
The Moon's orbit around the Earth is not perfectly round but it is elliptical.
As a result, the moon is sometimes closer to us and sometimes farther away.
During a Supermoon event, the Moon approaches less than 10% of its orbital perigee.
The perigee is the lowest point in the moon's orbit.
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The opposite of the perigee is the climax or climax.
A full moon or a new moon at the apogee is known as Micromoon.
The US NASA space agency said: "The term" Supermoon "was coined in 1979 and is often used today to describe what astronomers would call a Full Perigrenian Moon: a Full Moon occurring near or at the moment when the Moon is at its closest point, its orbit around the Earth. "
The perigee of the Moon is about 405 500 km from the Earth.
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Will you be able to see the Supermoon tonight?
Unfortunately for promising astronomers, the arrival of the Supermoon on the day of the new moon means that the show will not be seen.
The New Moon peaked around 11:37 BST (10:37 UTC).
As a result, the Moon is no longer visible to the naked eye and its lit side is turned towards us.
The Royal Observatory Edinburgh explained: "At the new phase of the moon, the moon is so close to the sun in the sky that no faces facing the Earth are illuminated.
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"In other words, the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun."
The lunar phase is the result of the orbit of the Moon around the Earth.
It takes about 27.3 days for the satellite to circle the planet and the lunar cycle from one new moon to another lasts 29.5 days.
The Royal Observatory said: "The Moon has spent an additional 2.2 days catching up, as the Earth travels about 45 million kilometers around the Sun while the Moon ends orbiting the Earth. "
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