New Year’s Day will boast the biggest and brightest supermoon of the year.
A supermoon is the term given to full moons which occur at the same time as the moon reaches its closest point to Earth in orbit. When this happens, the moon seems significantly larger in the sky and also significantly brighter than it normally does.
The moon will appear about 14% bigger and 30% brighter in the sky this New Year’s night (1 January) as it sits closer than average to Earth. On average, the moon is about 238,900 miles away from Earth but during a supermoon it is far closer.
On January 1, the ‘Wolf Moon’ full moon comes only 4.5 hours after the moon reaches lunar perigee (the point at which it’s 5% closer to the moon than usual) meaning that the moon will indeed appear bigger than usual.
It’s called the ‘Wolf Moon’, because this particular moon is visible during the time of year when hungry wolf packs would howl outside Native American villages as they were colder.
The Wolf Moon is part of a lunar trilogy which started with December’s Cold Moon, ending on 31 January when a third supermoon will also feature a total lunar eclipse which is set to make the moon appear red.
According to Accuweather, Sunday night’s conditions are set to be cloudy – meaning visibility might be an issue, but according to Astronomy Ireland, your best bit is to head somewhere up high with little to no light pollution.
The most recent supermoon visible in Ireland was in early December, where an incredible orange hue was spotted over an enormous-looking moon.
#cork #Supermoon #ireland #Christmas #Beauty pic.twitter.com/chRZXFro5M
— kate (@malley_kate) December 5, 2017
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