What is a super moon?

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Last month in March, we wrote about how to get the best out of the Super Worm Moon. We hope that you had a great time enjoying and channeling all of those delicious and powerful lunar energies. This month we are being treated again to another super moon, the Super Pink Moon! Because of this we thought we would delve a little deeper into what exactly a super moon is and when you should be looking out for them this year.

The super moons of 2021

This year you can put four dates in your calendar to keep an eye out for some spectacular moons:

March 28th – the super worm moon

April 27th – the super pink moon

May 26th – the super flower moon

June 24th – the super strawberry moon

What exactly is a super moon?

As we know, the moon orbits the earth once every month, during this orbit there is a point at which the moon is closest to the earth and a point at which the moon is furthest away from the earth. Not only this but one cycle of the moons orbit, as we all know, presents all of the different phases of the moon from the new moon to the full moon and everything in between. Experts in astronomy refer to the super moon as a perigee moon. What this means is that the point at which the moon is closest to the earth is in alignment with the full moon phase of the lunar cycle. This means that the full moon appears to be much larger and brighter in the sky.

What is the best time to see the moon?

The best time to see the super moon is at both sunrise and sunset, this is because these are the times that the moon sits on the horizon. The reason that the best time to see the moon is when it sits on the horizon is because it appears bigger and brighter at this point. It looks brighter because of the earth’s atmosphere and it appears bigger that it would if it were higher in the sky because the human eye is able to contrast it with things that we can see on earth such as trees or mountains. This an optical illusion that astronomers refer to as ‘the moon illusion’.

Fun facts

  • When we experience a super moon the ocean experiences higher tides, these are referred to as perigian spring tides.
  • The biggest super moon that we will see during the entirety of the 21’st century is going to occur on December 6th 2052. This will be referred to as a Super Cold Moon, and the moon will appear as though it is especially close to earth.

Now that we all know a little more about super moons, let’s keep an eye out for the dates in our calendars and keep our fingers crossed for some clear skies. The next super moon is April 27th.