Super Super Moon

‘Super’ Super Moon to Make an Appearance Saturday

Full moon will be closest to Earth in nearly 20 years.

By Mary Ann Barton Email the author 5/5/2012
Grab your telescopes and cameras and look to the heavens Saturday night. Because we’re in for another "Super Moon."

Astronomers are saying that this Super Moon will be even more super than usual.

"The last full moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993," Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington D.C. told USA Today.

This Super Moon (a phrase coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979) will appear especially large because the moment of perigee—when the moon is closest to the Earth in its monthly rotation—will coincide with the appearance of a perfectly full moon, Smithsonian points out. During last year’s Super Moon on March 19, 2011, for comparison, the perigee and full moon were 50 minutes apart.

On Saturday at 11:34 p.m. ET, the moon reaches full moon status—when the earth, moon and sun are all
in alignment. One minute later, at 11:35 p.m., “perigee” will occur.

The best time to photograph a full moon though, experts say, is at “moonrise.” Moonrise on Saturday will take place at 7:55 p.m. When the moon is near the horizon, illusion mixes with reality to produce a truly stunning view, NASA reports. Low-hanging moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects.

Will the weather cooperate though? The National Weather Service is predicting partly cloudy weather in Hoboken, with a low around 54º.

The moon will be 221,802 miles away from Earth Saturday night; (the average distance is 238,855 according to NASA.) That’s 17,053 miles closer.

This all translates to a moon that will appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than other full moons this year, according to NASA. (An astronomer interviewed by National Geographic says 16 percent bigger.)

For anyone living close to water—a perigee full Moon brings with it extra-high “perigean tides,” but this is nothing to worry about, according to NOAA. Lunar gravity at perigee pulls tide waters only a few centimeters (an inch or so) higher than usual. Local geography can amplify the effect to about 6 inches.