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BLOG: The Science Behind The Supermoon

Posted at 7:08 PM, Dec 03, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-03 20:25:50-05

Tonight's full supermoon or also known as the "cold moon" (it will certainly feel colder by Tuesday!) is putting on a spectacular show as I am typing this. The picture above was taken by a 2 Works for You viewer of the almost full moon Saturday night. I wanted to give some background on why the moon tonight is coined as the supermoon.

This is the only supermoon of the year, however 2 more are on the way for January. One on the 1st and then again on the 31st. 

So why is the moon bigger and brighter tonight? First off, it's completely full. Second, because the moon reaches perigee in its orbit, or the closest approach to Earth. This happens at 2:45 am central time early Monday morning. The moon's average distance from Earth is 238,000 miles, while tonight it will be 222,135 miles away.

If you snap any pictures, feel free to share on social media, plus you can e-mail them to weather@kjrh.com.