43% of a Full Moon
22.9 days old
August 11, 2014
By Dina Spectator
Sunday night, (click here) Aug. 10, marked your second chance this summer to see the supermoon, when the moon appears about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than your ordinary full moon.
Supermoons occur when a full moon occurs at the same time that it reaches its closet point to Earth in orbit, known as "perigee."
"For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects," Tony Phillips explains in NASA Science News. "When the Moon illusion amplifies a perigee Moon, the swollen orb rising in the east at sunset can seem super indeed."
Your next chance to see a supermoon will be on Sept 9.
