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The biggest supermoon of this century will appear in the sky later this month
Published 15:29 4 Nov 2016 GMT
Homelife
It could be something special.
Stargazers are in for a massive treat a little later this month, when the biggest supermoon of the 21st century, and certainly the biggest most people will ever see, appears in the sky on November 14. The supermoon is one of three supermoons to arrive at the tail end of 2016. One of them has already been and gone on October 16 and another will arrive on December 14, but the one sandwiched in the middle is set to be the most spectacular of all. According to The Independent, the last time the moon was as close as it will be on November 14 was in 1948, 68 years ago. The next time it’s going to be this close is 2034, 18 years from now. So yeah, it’s kind of a big deal. What is a supermoon? Here’s how NASA themselves described it ahead of the last supermoon last month. “Since the moon’s orbit is elliptical, one side (perigee) is about 30,000 miles closer to Earth than the other (apogee). The word syzygy, in addition to being useful in word games, is the scientific name for when the Earth, sun, and moon line up as the moon orbits Earth. “When perigee-syzygy of the Earth-moon-sun system occurs and the moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun, we get a perigee moon or more commonly, a supermoon!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWAN0FwfD5M Clip via ScienceAtNASA Makes sense, right?
Even if it doesn’t, just make sure to look up on November 14 because you might not see anything like it again.
