Supermoon

[The Rover]

Sky-watchers in the Northern Hemisphere will get to see a cosmic triple play on March 20, 2019 as a “super worm moon” lights up the vernal equinox. According to astronomy website EarthSky.org, a full moon has not landed this close to the first day of spring since the year 2000, and the two celestial events won’t happen less than a day apart again until 2030.

Because the moon’s orbit is egg-shaped, there are times when it is at what astronomers call perigee, or its shortest distance from Earth, and times when it is at apogee, or its farthest distance from Earth. And because the size of the moon's orbit varies slightly with each lunar cycle, perigee is not always the same distance from month to month.

At 3:45 p.m. ET (19:45 UT) on March 19, 2019 the moon will be a mere 223,309 miles away from our planet, making for an especially close perigee.

Then, at 9:43 p.m. ET on March 20, 2019 (1:43 UT on March 21), the moon will officially reach its full phase. As a result of these combined events, the full lunar disk will appear 14 percent larger and 12 percent brighter than usual—a spectacle widely known as a supermoon.

The equinox supermoon will be the final one for 2019, which already saw supermoons fall on January 21 and February 19. But the year may have saved the best for last, given the coincidental timing with the March equinox at 5:58 p.m. ET (21:58 UT) on March 20—less than four hours before the supermoon arrives.

[edwardv]

Thought the plumber was at your house when I saw the heading.

[jetguy5150]

I'm all super-mooned out! Third month in a row with a super moon. I swear to god...in all my life I've never heard of a super moon until the last year or two.

[Get The Show On The Road]

Apparently 14 percent isnt very noticeable because it didnt look any different to me.

[TheresOnlyOneWay]

The Super Moon Is A Load Of Super Bullshit

Every year, news stories abound about how the moon is going to be so close to Earth that you might scratch it with your telescope if you're not careful.

https://www.cracked.com/article_2625...-total-bs.html