2023-07-03 17:39:21
This Monday, July 3, the first “supermoon” of the year will occur, when the Earth’s satellite appears larger and brighter in the night sky. The Moon might be seen preliminary around 7:00 AM and at night it will be seen in its maximum splendor.
According to NASA, a supermoon occurs only when “the Moon’s orbit is closest to Earth at the same time the Moon is full.”
This approach is also known as “perigee”, which is when the satellite is at its closest orbit point to the planet and occurs a few times a year.
The perigee occurs because the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is not perfectly circular, but “elliptical”.
This means that “the Moon orbits the Earth in an ellipse, an oval that moves it closer and further away as it rotates,” explains the space agency.
The furthest point of this ellipse is known as apogee and is approximately 405,500 kilometers from Earth, while the perigee reaches a distance of 363,300 kilometers on average.
4 supermoons occur annually. As detailed by National Geographic, this 2023 will take place on July 3, August 1, August 31 and September 29.
Some may even be closer to Earth than others, varying by a few kilometers, so they might be imperceptible to the naked eye.
However, something that can be noticeable as a result of supermoons are the tides, since when the full moon coincides with the perigee they can be a little stronger.
“Perigee high tides during the full Moon and new Moon can cause significant problems on some coastlines, especially if the weather adds high waves or storm surges (due to low atmospheric pressure in the area involved),” says NASA.
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