A “supermoon” is to occur tomorrow evening and again on July 14, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said on Friday.
A supermoon is a nonscientific term that typically refers to a full moon or new moon that coincides with the moon’s closest approach to Earth, or perigee, the museum wrote in a news release.
The perigee of the moon’s orbit is about 362,000km from Earth, and it is usually called a supermoon when it passes the point within 24 hours of being seen in the night sky, the museum said.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Astronomical Museum
As the moon is to be 357,656.38km from Earth tomorrow, the event would be the first of this year’s two supermoons, it said.
Stargazers should expect the moon to rise at 6:44pm and peak at 7:52pm, and for it to become 6 percent larger and 12 percent brighter, assuming favorable weather conditions, the museum said.
The event would be visible to the naked eye and a commercial camera with a tripod, while excellent observation of the moon’s surface could be achieved using an astronomical telescope, the museum added.
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