The first Supermoon of the year appears in the sky on Monday night (19).
The phenomenon occurs when the full Moon is at its closest point to Earth. On average, this distance is about 384 thousand kilometers, but today the Moon will be 362 thousand kilometers from our planet.
This happens because the orbit is elliptical, or oval. So the Moon appears larger and brighter, explained National Observatory astronomer Fernando Roig.
“It can be up to 20% brighter than the moon. It’s a very interesting spectacle to observe and you can see it from anywhere in Brazil, in the world, if the weather conditions are right,” he said.
How the Supermoon came about
The term Supermoon was created by an astrologer in 1979 to refer to a full Moon that is at least 90% of its closest distance to Earth.
As it is not a scientific definition, there is no consensus among astronomical institutions about the distance between the Moon and Earth that characterizes the phenomenon.
The National Observatory reported that, in 2016, the Supermoon was 356 thousand kilometers from our planet, the closest distance since 1948.
The next time the Moon will come this close to us is expected to be in 2034.
