The November "Supermoon" is extra close to Earth, providing extraordinary sight for skywatchers. But what makes this month's full moon so special?
Supermoon is a term used to describe a full moon at its perigee, or closest point to Earth during the lunar orbit. It will be the biggest and brightest Supermoon to rise in almost 69 years. To us, the moon appears 30 percent brighter and 14 percent bigger. In fact, the full moon won't come this close to Earth until Nov. 25, 2034.
By the way, Supermoon is not an astrological term, its scientific name is perigee-syzygy.
According to The Telegraph, Astrologer Richard Nolle first came up with the term and he defined it as a new or full moon which occurs when the moon is at its nearest approach to the orbit of Earth.
As well as being closer and larger, the moon will look as orange and red in color when it first rises. As the moon gets higher in the sky, it gets back to its white/yellow color.
These Supermoons are very frequent, although the November's Supermoon will be a one-in-a-generation sight. There are six Supermoons to be seen in 2016, we've had four of them and after next week, we'll have one on Dec. 14.
Each full moon of the year is given a name although they vary according to the source. October's full moon is referred to as Hunter's moon because it appears very soon after sunset and traditionally generated more light for farmers working in the fields and hunters to spot wildlife.
According to Space, the actual reason of these Supermoons is - the distance between the Earth and the moon changes due to the fact that the moon does not orbit in a perfect circle.
Noah Petro, deputy scientist of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission said, "The main reason why the orbit of the moon is not a perfect circle is that there are a lot of tidal, or gravitational forces that are pulling on the moon."
Petro pointed out that the gravity of the Earth, sun, and planets of our solar system all impact the orbit of the moon.
"You have all of these different gravitational forces pulling and pushing on the moon, which gives us opportunities to have these close passes," he added.
