SUPERMOON, SUPERMOON II, SUPERMOON RETURNS
Ever wondered whether the moon will ever appear even just a tad brighter or bigger than the usual? Well, wonder no more for we will shed some light, no pun intended, to the astronomical phenomenon we call Supermoon – and not one but three of them are going to take place in just a span of two months. Amazing, amirite?
A Supermoon is what happens when a full moon approximately coincides with the moon’s perigee. Perigee is what we call the point in which the moon is in its closest position to the Earth. Supermoon was called as such, not because it suddenly possesses superhuman abilities but because compared to the usual appearance of the moon, a Supermoon appears to be up to 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger. To help us differentiate more, let’s take a look at the statistics. Given the Moon’s orbit around Earth isn’t a perfect circle, Moon’s average distance from Earth is 238,000 miles (382,900 km), that’s roughly 16,088 times the length of EDSA. While the nearest perigee recorded was 225,622 miles (363,104 km). Note: Although the closest perigee happened back on May 25, 2017, it didn’t happen during a Full Moon so we can’t consider that a Supermoon.
Now that we’ve had a crash course on what a Supermoon is, let’s take a look at the so-called “Supermoon Trilogy”, taking place during the months of December and January. Supermoon’s first installment took place last December 3rd, 2017, where the moon became totally full at 11:47 p.m. and officially reached perigee at 4:45 p.m. This particular Supermoon was called a “Full Cold Moon”. It is fittingly associated with the month when the winter cold fastens its grip and longer and darker nights. The second Supermoon was the full moon that will take place on January 1 -2, 2018 and end this spectacular trilogy with a bang is the full moon that will take place on January 31, 2018. According to some research, this 2018 Supermoon will be the closest full moon of 2018 but also the closest lunar perigee of 2018, which will, comes only for 4.5 hours after the moon reaches the perigee. This Supermoon will be best observed in the United States, The Pacific, and Eastern Asia.
January 31’s full moon or also known as “Super Blue Moon Eclipse” will be extra special because not only it will be a Supermoon but also the second full moon of the month, which some people refer to as the Blue Moon, and to serve as the cherry on top is the total lunar eclipse. A Lunar eclipse is a phenomenon in which the moon lines up perfectly with Earth and Sun so that the moon will pass through the Earth’s shadow often giving the moon a reddish color when observed from Earth. The term “SuperMoon” has only been used in 40 years, the term blue in proportion when the 2016 supermoon which has three supermoons that occurred in a row. This SuperMoon was the closest SuperMoon in 69 years, although the closer supermoon will be observed in 2030. The Full Moon SuperMoon in three-part succession can be expected to happen in 14 lunar months. Thus, in 2019, the third of three full moon supermoons will happen on Jan 21, Feb 19, and March 21.
In Conclusion, This full Moon SuperMoon three in a row is a spectacular phenomenon especially this 2017-2018 because of the Full Cold Moon and the Super Blue Moon Eclipse.
