People walk in front of a rising supermoon at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.
(AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Monday’s supermoon is the first of four this year.
During a supermoon, the full moon inches a little closer than usual to Earth. A supermoon isn’t bigger, but it can appear that way in the night sky, although scientists say the difference can be barely perceptible.
September’s supermoon (the night of Sept. 17 into the following morning) will coincide with a partial lunar eclipse visible in much of the Americas, Africa and Europe as the Earth’s shadow falls on the moon, resembling a small bite. October’s will be the year’s closest approach at 222,055 miles from Earth, and November’s will round out the year.
More a popular term than a scientific one, a supermoon occurs when a full lunar phase syncs up with an especially close swing around Earth. This usually happens only three or four times a year and consecutively, given the moon’s constantly shifting, oval-shaped orbit.
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The supermoon rises from behind a resident building in Berlin, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.
(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
German girls on vacation in Portugal react to the strong wind while watching a nearly full supermoon rise over the Tagus river from the roof the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology in Lisbon, Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024.
(AP Photo/Armando Franca)
A statue of Mercury and supermoon are seen at Kastellet in Copenhagen Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.
(Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
The super moon rises behind the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounio, south of Athens, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.
(AP Photo/Michael Varaklas)
The supermoon is seen over the Smolny Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, with an advertising billboard displaying a Russian soldier, participants of the military operation in Ukraine, in the foreground.
(AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
A nearly full supermoon shines behind vegetation in Caesarea, Israel, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.
(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
The super moon rises behind the Dome of the Rock shrine at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.
(AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A blue supermoon rises over the Crescent City Connection bridge in New Orleans, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.
(David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
A cable car heads toward Sugarloaf Mountain as the supermoon rises into the night sky in Rio de Janeiro, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.
(AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
A supermoon is seen over San Francisco from Marin Headlands in Sausalito, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.
(Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
The supermoon rises behind the historical site of Giza Pyramids, near Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024.
(AP Photo/Amr Nabil)