A rare ‘supermoon’ will be on display in the night sky tomorrow.
Set to be a spectacular sight, thanks partly to an optical illusion, a supermoon occurs when the full moon coincides with it being at its closest to Earth.
The Moon orbits Earth in an elliptical orbit, which means it is not always the same distance from Earth.
Supermoon closest to Earth in 20 years
The closest the Moon gets – known as the perigee – is around 364,000km, and the farthest – the apogee – is around 406,000km.
Tomorrow’s lunar perigee – the supermoon – will see the full moon hover slightly closer at 357,000km.
The perigee moon is 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than the apogee moon, but while the moon may look extra large, it won’t be as a result of the perigee.
Instead its appearance is the result of an optical trick, known as the Moon Illusion, which occurs around sunset when the moon is close to the horizon and there are objects such as hills, trees and houses for the eye to compare, making it seem bigger.
The superstitious believe the supermoon will wreak havoc on the world’s weather as previous supermoons have been shown to precede natural disasters.
In 2005 the phenomenon was followed by Cyclone Tracy in Darwin, Australia and in 1974 it occurred shortly before a tsunami in Indonesia.
However, Brits have been reassured by experts that they don’t have too much to be worried about, as the moon doesn’t have an effect on events like volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis.
TV weatherman John Kettley, said if any problems do occur they will be in coastal regions, as although the moon “can’t cause a geological event” it can have an effect on the tide.
If nothing else, one thing’s for certain: the supermoon will be a great sight.
