The "Supermoon" is coming back early this Saturday morning, the first of three more appearances this year.
According to USA Today, the moon will large and full at night both Friday and Saturday, but the optimum viewing time will be early Saturday morning. People on Earth see a "Supermoon" when the moon comes closer than usual and the orbit coincides with a full moon.
James Garvin, chief scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., told USA Today there will be two more Supermoons this year, one on Aug. 10 and another in Sept. Since the moon will be closes Aug. 10, the Supermoon will appear largest.
"Generally speaking, full Moons occur near perigee every 13 months and 18 days, so it's not all that unusual," Geoff Chester, of the U.S. Naval Observatory, said in a NASA statement. "In fact, just last year there were three perigee Moons in a row, but only one was widely reported.
"The 'Moon Illusion' is probably what will make people remember this coming set of Full Moons, more than the actual view of the Moon itself."
Chester said astronomers and psychologists alike have not been able to explain why the Supermoon appears so large. The moon orbits low on the horizon and this effect makes it appear larger when it hangs closely over trees and buildings.
"I guarantee that some folks will think it's the biggest Moon they've ever seen if they catch it rising over a distant horizon, because the media will have told them to pay attention to this particular one," Chester said. "There's a part of me that wishes that this 'super-Moon' moniker would just dry up and blow away, like the 'Blood-Moon' that accompanied the most recent lunar eclipse, because it tends to promulgate a lot of mis-information.
"However, if it gets people out and looking at the night sky and maybe hooks them into astronomy, then it's a good thing."
