As we approach fall, the summer of supermoons is coming to an end. The last of this season’s four full moons, known as the Harvest Moon, will shine its brightest on Friday, September 29.
Now, let’s break down what a full supermoon is. A full moon occurs when the moon is on the opposite side of Earth from the sun. When this full moon happens to be near its closest point to Earth during its regular orbit, we call it a full supermoon. This makes the moon appear a bit larger and brighter than usual, which is sometimes referred to as a perigee.
The extent to which the moon looks bigger depends on how close it is to Earth, but it can be around 10 percent larger in size, as per Forbes. An astronomer named Fred Espenak has created a handy table that lists the dates and distances for full supermoons all the way up to 2100. In the year 2023, there will be a total of four full supermoons.
