lundi 14 novembre 2016

Supermoon

The most spectacular supermoon since 1948 will light up the sky, appearing 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than usual.
The event on Monday November 14 - described as "undeniably beautiful" by American space agency Nasa - is the result of the moon coming closer to Earth than it has done for 69 years.

Nothing will match it until the moon makes a similar approach on November 25 2034.


On top of the moon's bigger than usual size, they will then be treated to an additional "low-hanging moon" effect.
This is an optical illusion caused by the moon being close to the horizon, where it can be measured against familiar objects such as trees and houses.

But
What is a supermoon ?

The impressive sight happens when a full moon is closest to Earth. It orbits our planet in an oval shape so sometimes it comes closer to us than at other times. To us Earth-lings, the moon appears 30 per cent brighter and 14 per cent bigger. 
By the way, supermoon is not an astrological term. It's scientific name is perigee-syzygy, but supermoon is more catchy, and is used by the media to describe our celestial neighbour when it gets up close.



Some words :

catchy : likely to attract interest or attention

shape : the appearence of an object

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