November 2016 moon biggest and brightest in 60 years
Closer, bigger, brighter: the full moon was the star of the heavens on Monday 14th 2016.
Anne
Mendiondo & Xiaolong Dong
On this special day, Monday, November 14th
2016, people all around the world were amazed admiring a very special
show, a spectacular moon. This celestial event, described as "super
moon", has not had this magnitude since 1948. Astronomers,
stargazers or just curious people have had a great time with this
exceptional super moon in the night sky, an event that will not recur
before 2034.
On Monday November the 14th
at exactly 12:21 the Moon was at its perigee, a technical term to
explain that it was at its closest to the Earth. At the same time it
had waxed to a full Moon, noted the Observatory of Paris. Obviously,
the Moon wasn’t observable from the French mainland then. The best
time to observe it? “The moon rises at 5:42 pm, but we had to wait
a little to be able to comfortably observe it. The optimal moment was
18:30.” advised experts from the Observatory. “It was still low
on the horizon and it also benefited from an optical illusion and effects of scale, making it seem larger and
brighter than it was because of its proximity to visual elements of
the horizon."
A
super moon can be up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than a full moon
- according to
NASA.
There are thirteen full moons a year, one per
lunar month, which lasts 28 days. It appears
when the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are perfectly aligned, and the
Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. The term
"super moon" is used to describe a rare coincidence: a full
moon at its perigee. The phenomenon occurs on average four to six
times a year, and is considered as more or less impressive. The
latest event was, however, particularly extreme and so could be
described as an "extra-super moon".
The weather on Monday was generally very cloudy in
the north and the south-west of France according to Météo-France.
Clouds and fog brought disappointment to stargazers in the north
of the country during the afternoon, giving light rain or drizzle
over the Hauts-de-France and the coasts of Normandy. Clouds may have
spoiled the show in Paris, but it wasn’t the case for east southern France as it had
clear sky. Don’t worry if you missed this event as another super
moon, albeit not an “extra-super moon”, will occur on December
14th.
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