Seleophiles, or people who love the moon, are in for a treat with an upcoming supermoon that will illuminate the night sky this week.
In 1979, Astrologer Richard Nolle coined the term "supermoon", which refers to a full moon appearing brighter and larger than other moons since it is in the closest orbit to the Earth. The moon will be at perigee, the closest to the Earth for this orbit, at 2:O6 A.M. PDT Wednesday morning, according to NASA.
“The full moon after next will be Wednesday afternoon, at 11:38 a.m PDT since this is less than 10 hours after perigee, this too will be a supermoon. The moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from early Tuesday morning through early Friday morning,” NASA reported.
The definition of a supermoon is any full moon at a distance of at least 90 percent of perigee, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. The Buck Moon also known as the "Thunder Moon", is the second supermoon of the summer.
The Full Moon in July is called the Buck Moon because the antlers of male deer (bucks) are in full-growth mode at this time of year, according to the Almanac. The first supermoon was the Strawberry moon, which took place on June 14.
The last supermoon of the year will take place on Aug. 11.
