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Biggest supermoon in nearly 69 years
On Monday 14th November the Moon will arrive at its closest point, its perigee, to the Earth in 2016: 356,508 kilometres (221,524 miles) away. This distance—measured from the centre of the Earth to the centre of the Moon—is just 137 kilometres (85 miles) away from being the Moon's closest possible distance from Earth. It becomes a full moon 2 hours 37 minutes after the precise moment of perigee, at 1.52 p.m. GMT (8.52 a.m. EST) . When a full moon coincides, or nearly coincides, with the moon being at its closest point to Earth on its orbit, it is called a “supermoon”, or, more correctly, a “perigee full moon”. What makes November’s event special is that will be the closest full moon since 26th January 1948, just under 69 years ago. It won’t be this close again until November 2034.
There are between four and six supermoons every year on average. The difference between this unusually big supermoon and other supermoons (such as the one on 16th October or the next one on the 14th December), will, however, be almost impossible for the eye to detect. And although supermoons can appear up to 30% brighter and 14% larger than full moons when the Moon is at its apogee (its farthest point from Earth), the November supermoon will not even look that different to other ordinary full moons.
When the Moon rises and lies close to the horizon, it does appear to be exceptionally large: up to three times larger than when it is high in the sky. This is called the “moon illusion”, and is normal for a full moon—but it isn’t actually any bigger.
What causes a supermoon? The Moon’s orbit around the Earth is not quite a circle but an ellipse (oval-shaped). Since the Earth is positioned slightly to one side of the ellipse, the Moon is closer to the Earth when it passes that side. The perigee (2), the closest point, is about 50,000 kilometres (30,000 miles) closer to the Earth (3) than the apogee (1), the farthest point. When the Moon is at its perigee, and is also a full moon, it is called a supermoon.
The shape of this ellipse changes a little from month to month. When the supermoon coincides with a more stretched-out shape (or when, as scientists say, its eccentricity increases), it appears even bigger than usual. This is what happens on 14th November.
The near coincidence of November’s full moon with perigee means there will be a huge range of high and low tides. Low tides will be much lower than normal, while high tides will be unusually high. Any storm at the coast around this time may cause flooding problems.