If you happened to look into the sky early Saturday, you probably witnessed one of the coolest natural phenomenon’s!
Saturday, July 12 marked the first supermoon of the summer and was captured in hundreds of photographs across the globe.
So, what is a “supermoon?” According to the Weather Channel, a supermoon occurs when a new or full moon coincides with a perigee – when the moon is closest to the Earth. While they are incredibly beautiful, perigee moons are not that uncommon, and two are expected within the next two months- August 10 and September 9.
“Generally speaking, full Moons occur near perigee every 13 months and 18 days, so it’s not all that unusual,” Geogg Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory said in a statement for NASA. “In fact, just last year there were three perigee Moons in a row, but only one was widely reported.”
According to NASA, the supermoon appeared 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than normal for those who saw it.
Check out some pictures of the supermoon below.
Supermoon rising over Earth this weekend http://t.co/PV2pFN7ACN pic.twitter.com/E50eIsD8Pc
— RT (@RT_com) July 11, 2014
Sky watchers were treated to a supermoon overnight with some of our cameraman capturing its beauty. #9News pic.twitter.com/HqwUU6Cnlw
— Nine News Australia (@9NewsAUS) July 12, 2014
Road to the supermoon … also this morning. By our friend Damian McCudden / Landscape Photographer pic.twitter.com/NdZn4SH3h4
— EarthSky (@earthskyscience) July 12, 2014
First of three ‘Supermoons’ of the summer is seen http://t.co/oP40ze3M7P pic.twitter.com/E3GmfbWMFg
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) July 12, 2014
Today's supermoon has risen in Hong Kong. Photo by our friend Matthew Chin.
http://t.co/q6TdpSbZEw pic.twitter.com/Nkn1DD7Rfr
— EarthSky (@earthskyscience) July 12, 2014
The supermoon is back: http://t.co/LB98Qqp4p9 pic.twitter.com/p8aKsg8CUD
— ABC News (@ABC) July 12, 2014
Tomorrow's full moon will be a SUPER MOON! Details, in one easy pic: #NBC7 #SanDiego #FullMoon #SuperMoon #Howl pic.twitter.com/HZg8DSRhkr
— Jodi Kodesh (@NBCJodi) July 11, 2014
Image via Wikimedia Commons