Supermoon 2017: When and How to See December’s ‘Full Cold Moon’.
When the “Full Cold Moon” rises on Sunday night (Dec. 3). It will also be the first (and last) “supermoon” of 2017.
Supermoons happen when a full moon approximately coincides with the moon’s perigee, or a point in its orbit at which it is closest to Earth. This makes the moon appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than usual.
The moon becomes totally full at 10:47 a.m. EST (1547 GMT) on Sunday (Dec. 3). It will officially reach perigee the next day (Dec. 4) at 3:45 a.m. EST (0845 GMT), when it is 222,135 miles (357,492 kilometers) away from Earth.
What is a supermoon?
While the moon’s average distance is 238,000 miles (382,900 km) from Earth, its orbit isn’t perfectly circular, so that distance varies a small amount. When it reaches apogee, or its farthest distance from Earth, on Dec. 19, it will be 252,651 miles (406,603 km) away. That’s a difference of 30,516 miles (48,110 km) — but the moon’s distance from Earth can vary more than that.
The perigee for December’s supermoon won’t even be the closest this year; that happened May 25, when the not-so-super new moon was 221,958 miles (357,208 km) away from Earth. That date didn’t coincide with a full moon, though, so it didn’t qualify as a supermoon.
The word “supermoon” conjured up a very unpleasant mental image of Michael Moore.
Uncle Al beat me too it…
Very cool post. Thanks.
So if that top secret hidden Nazi moon base is going to attack us like in The Iron Sky, now is the window.
Check.
Breaking news not good California just found not guilty to the criminal illegal immigrants that kill Kathy S . Just in I hope that is sorry as&& is deported tomorrow morning
Of course moon’s orbit isn’t circular. That’s because Earth is flat. Duh!
pulling a ‘Bob’ … aka Threadjacking
San Fran jury acquits illegal-alien Kate Steinle murderer
The moon is flat.
Oh, it’s only a paper moon,
Hanging up in a cardboard sky…..
I took a picture of the moon this afternoon, about 4pm. It was hanging there against a clear blue sky, appearing fairly large and almost transparent. Beautiful.
D****t! Uncle Al! Someone pass the mind bleach…
The moons white, racyssss!!!!!
The bad thing about really full moons is it brings the deer out early in the morning when I’m driving in N. Idaho & NW Montana. I already got one, ran right out in front of me up by Thompson Falls, MT. in the dark at 6:30 AM on my 3rd day of work with my new company in a brand new diesel Mercedes van. The deer didn’t have a chance, I ran right over the top of it, fortunately the deer guard held and it didn’t do much damage except to take the license plate out, thank goodness for good insurance and an understanding boss. And it was also our last day for making deliveries to Thompson Falls, go figure.