Spectacular supermoon forecast to be the sight of our lifetime
Kiwis are set to be treated to the most spectacular “supermoon” since 1948 — if bad weather doesn’t get in the way
s long as the skies are clear at 8.45pm on Tuesday, November 15, people will be able to watch the moon as a huge orange globe creeping over the eastern horizon.
Astronomers are predicting it will be the most impressive such spectacle in 67 years.
“For most of the population, it’ll be the best one they’ve seen in their lifetime,” Stardome astronomer Dr Grant Christie said.
The phenomenon occurs when a full moon phase coincides with its closest approach to the Earth.
As its orbit around Earth i s an ellipse, not a circle, its distance from Earth can vary from its far apogee of approximately 406,000km to a closer perigee of 357,000km.
While the moon passes through apogee and perigee each lunar cycle, the phases of the moon and the orbit aren’t directly linked. So occasionally a full moon will coincide with perigee, resulting in a supermoon.
On November 15 the full moon will appear about 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than an apogee full moon — and there won’t be a closer full moon until 2024.
“The sun will have set about a bit over half an hour earlier, so it will be a twilight rise and will appear as a big, yellowy ball,” Christie said.
“If it’s a fine evening, it does look spectacular — I’ve watched a few of them and you’d think after 50 years of astronomy it would lose some of the magic, but it’s always a sight to behold.”
For the best view of the phenomenon, people need to find a clear vantage point to see the eastern horizon.
While the moon will appear bigger and brighter, it will look best when rising from the horizon because of the way our brains work.
“It’s a well- known psychological effect, whereby you can’t really judge the size of something unless you’ve got a reference next to it and near the horizon — trees, buildings, hills, mountains, whatever,” Christie said.
“Once it gets higher in the sky, it’s exactly the same if you measure it — but it kind of just looks more normal.”
The exact time of the full moon phase occurs at 2.52am. A .