1000 x 90

Giant Supermoon-Rise on Monday Morning, Closest To Earth Since 1948

The Sunday night super moonrise above Grandfather Mountain was tinted by smoky air, as numerous wildfires are burning in western North Carolina. Photo by Jim Morton
The Sunday night super moonrise above Grandfather Mountain was tinted by smoky air, as numerous wildfires are burning in western North Carolina. Photo by Jim Morton

By Jesse Wood

It’s been decades since the moon orbited Earth so closely as it did this morning at 8:52 a.m. EST, but if you happened to miss the very bright supermoon last night or this morning, you should have another chance tonight.

Noah Petro, deputy scientist for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, told Live Science that tonight’s viewing will be just “fine” if you get away from the bright lights and tall objects, such as buildings and trees. The moon will rise at 5:54 p.m.

“Especially when the moon is low in the sky,” Petro said. “Late at night, any spot will be fine.”

A supermoon occurs when a full moon makes its closest pass around Earth, which usually happens every 14 months or so. But as has been noted, this supermoon is especially super because the moon hasn’t been this close since 1948 and won’t again until 2034.

Petro noted that this supermoon will appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter.

Hopefully, tonight’s sky will be as clear as it was last night. RaysWeather.com’s forecast for Monday calls for “decreasing clouds.”

If you wan to know where the moon will be tonight according to your location and time, click here: http://www.dailymoonposition.com/default.aspx.

Using this website, plotting Boone, for example, at 9:53 p.m., the moon will be seen at 99 degrees east of north on compass after calculating for negative 7.3 degrees for magnetic declination.

Read more about this supermoon at Space.com

Check out a couple YouTube videos on the supermoon below: