The largest supermoon of the year will be visible tonight, as the Moon will be at its closest position to the Earth for 2022. Approaching a perigee distance of 357,264 kilometres away from the Earth at 2:30pm IST, the “Buck” supermoon will be visible to people across the planet later today. The term “supermoon” as defined by astrologer Richard Nolle as the phenomenon when the Moon is closer than 90 percent of its perigee to the Earth.
While supermoons aren’t as rare as one might believe, they are slightly brighter and bigger than regular full moons. While the full moon technically only appears for a single moment, the strip of shadow on the moon is so thin and moves so slowly that it appears to be full for up to 2-3 days. In the case of the full moon of July 13, the Moon is expected to look full for the next three days, according to details shared by NASA.
You can also watch the largest full Moon of the year online on Thursday morning at 12:30am IST, via live stream from the The Virtual Telescope Project using the embedded player.
“This will be on Thursday morning from the India Standard Time Zone eastward to the International Date Line. The Moon will appear full for about three days, from early Tuesday morning through early Friday morning,” NASA said.
According to the Maine Farmer’s Almanac, which publishes the names given by Native American tribes to full moons, the full moon, on Wednesday, is called the Buck Moon by the Algonquin tribes in northeastern North America. The name is given as this is the season when male deer start growing out their antlers anew.
While the supermoon, in reality, will not be that much brighter or larger compared to the average to the naked eye, amateur astronomers and enthusiasts can catch the Moon by heading outside once it is fully dark outside, though in areas with clear skies the supermoon should be visible through early evening.
