Stunning images of 2020’s last Supermoon revealed – and you can see rare ‘Flower Moon’ again tonight
A PREVIEW of the last Supermoon of 2020 filled the sky last night.
Dubbed the Flower Moon, it's set to be at its biggest and brightest later this evening and into the early hours of Thursday.
NASA explained on its : "The next full Moon will be on Thursday morning, May 7, 2020, appearing opposite the Sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 6:45am EDT."
This equates to 10:45pm GMT for watches in the UK.
The space agency continued: "The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Tuesday evening through Friday morning.”
Wednesday night, weather permitting, is still likely to be your best bet of seeing the Flower Moon in all its glory.
This is because when it peaks in the early hours of Thursday morning it will be low on the horizon so may be harder to spot.
May's full Moon will be the third closest Supermoon of the year.
This means it will also be the third largest.
This month's full Moon is called the Flower Moon because it signifies spring.
Nasa explains: "Going by the seasons, as the second full Moon of spring, the Native American tribes of the northeastern United States called this the Flower Moon, as flowers are abundant this time of year in most of these areas.”
Full Moons occur when when the Moon is on the opposite side of Earth to the Sun.
This results in the lunar surface being fully illuminated.
A Super Moon happens when a full Moon reaches the perigee, which is the point in the orbit of the Moon when it's closest to the Earth.
The opposite of the perigee is the apogee and when the Moon reaches this point it will look much smaller than usual.
What is a Supermoon?
A Supermoon appears when a full Moon aligns with the point closest to the Earth during its elliptical orbit.
During this time it appears 14% bigger and 30% brighter than usual.
It wasn’t until 1979 that Richard Nolle first defined the Supermoon, which is now a widely-used term.
The astrologer explained that the phenomenon is “a new or full Moon which occurs with the Moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit”.
Based on Nolle’s theory, the moon would have to be around 226,000 miles away from the Earth to be considered "super".
Because of its relatively close proximity to the Earth, the celestial body’s surface appears a lot bigger when a Supermoon occurs.
The different types of moons
Here are some of the most interesting moon phases and when to see them...
A Blue Moon refers to the occasion when a full Moon appears for the second time in the same month, this is very rare and the next Blue Moon should occur on Halloween in 2020.
The Harvest Moon appears around the time of the autumnal equinox when farmers tend to do their main crop harvesting.
A Supermoon appears when it is at its closest point to Earth and therefore at its brightest, the next one will appear in September.
A Blood Moon occurs during a total lunar eclipse, the next one should happen in May 2020.
Each month of the year actually has its own special full moon phenomenon, they are as follows:
- January: Wolf Moon
- February: Snow Moon
- March: Worm Moon
- April: Pink Moon
- May: Flower Moon
- June: Strawberry Moon
- July: Buck Moon
- August: Sturgeon Moon
- September: Full Corn Moon
- October: Hunter's Moon
- November: Beaver Moon
- December: Cold Moon.
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In other space news, the 'world's clearest picture of the Moon's craters' has been revealed.
Nasa has a list of 22 asteroids that might hit Earth.
And, Elon Musk has plans to make his Starlink satellites "invisible to the naked eye".
Are you a fan of stargazing? Let us know in the comments...
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