Table of Contents
The Moon
- The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite.
- It goes around the Earth at an average distance of about 385,000 kilometers
What is a ‘Supermoon’?
- Super moon occurs when the distance between the moon and earth is least.
- Moon is closest to the earth during this time and appears as a giant big body.
- The super moon will illuminate 30 percent more brighter, appear 14 percent bigger than the usual moon.
The Orbit
- The Moon orbits Earth in an ellipse, an oval that brings it closer to and farther from Earth as it goes around.
- The farthest point in this ellipse is called the apogeeand is about 253,000 miles (405,500 kilometers) from Earth on average.
- Its closest point is the perigee, which is an average distance of about 226,000 miles (363,300 kilometers) from Earth.
- Supermoon = When a full moon appears at perigee
- It is slightly brighter and larger than a regular full moon.
- According to the original definition of supermoon – coined by astrologer Richard Nollein 1979 – a full moon or new moon has to come within 90% of its closest approach to Earth to be dubbed a supermoon.
- In other words, any full moon or new moon that comes to within 224,865 miles or 361,885 km (or less) of our planet, as measured from the centers of the moon and Earth, can be called a supermoon, according to Nolle’s original and extremely generous definition.
How many Supermoons a year?
- Under this definition, in a typical year there can be 3 or 4 full Supermoons in a row and (about half a year apart) 3 or 4 new Supermoons in a row.
- For 2020, the four full Moons from February to May meet this 90% threshold, with the full Moons in March and April nearly tied in size and brightness.
Full moon Supermoons of 2020
- March 9, 2000: 222,081 miles (357,404 km)
- April 7-8, 2020: 221,851 miles (357,035 km)
- May 7, 2020: 224,429 miles (361,184 km)
- April’s Super Pink Moon was the biggest and brightest supermoon of 2020 and brought a spectacular sight to places around the world.
Is the moon actually Pink?
- When atmospheric conditions are just right, the moon can sometimes appear yellow, orange or even red when it is near the horizon.
- Every month’s full moon has a nickname often traced back to the Native Americans or early Colonials from Europe, April’s nickname is the Pink Moon.
- The name is derived from its correspondence with the early springtime blossoming of the Phlox subulata, a pink wildflower native to eastern North America.
Religious Significance
- Jews – Passover Moon.
- Christian – Paschal Moon, the full Moon from which the date of Easter is calculated.
- Hanuman Jayanti
- Buddhists in Sri Lanka – this full Moon is Bak Poya
- Shab e barat
Some Moon Trivia
- Twenty-four humans have travelled from the Earth to the Moon. Twelve walked on its surface. The last human visited the lunar surface in 1972.
- Now NASA is gearing up to set up a permanent lunar presence on the Moon.
- The Artemis programwill send the first woman and the next man to the Moon and develop a sustainable human presence on the Moon and set the stage for further human exploration at Mars.
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