The biggest and brightest full moon of the
year will grace the skies Saturday night.
The "supermoon," which occurs
when the moon is nearest Earth in its orbit, will appear only slightly
smaller than last year's, which was the brightest full moon in nearly 20
years. It will become full at 11:35pm but there's no need to keep the
kids up late to see it, notes USA Today: The best time to view the huge moon will be just after it rises in early evening.
The
bright moon is expected to wash out light from the annual Eta Aquarid
meteor shower, which peaks Saturday, NASA says. The close approach to
Earth will cause the moon to exert 42% more tidal force than usual, an
effect that British authorities blamed for the stranding of five ships last year
.
There is no evidence, however, that supermoons can be blamed for
"catastrophes such as earthquakes, tsunamis and new Justin Bieber CDs,"
writes astronomer Perry Vlahos at the Sydney Morning Herald.
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