Supermoon, the biggest in 68 years: What you need to know
Kohilah Sekaran
November 14, 2016 14:00 MYT
November 14, 2016 14:00 MYT
TONIGHT, Malaysians will watch the largest ever full moon - the supermoon - the first in almost 70 years.
The moon will be at the closest point to Earth since the last incident in 1948. It will appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the average full moon monthly.
Here are some facts on the phenomena:
1. According to Wikipedia, supermoon is the closest approach of moon to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth.
2. The technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system.
3. According to NASA, the moon will be only 221,524 miles from Earth. The last time it was this close was on Jan 26, 1948.
4. The Moon would not be this close again until 25 November 2034.
5. Bernama reported last night, the moon nearing to full moon phase or 'Gibbous' was captured in the capital around 10 pm yesterday.
6. According to BBC, Director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, Neil de Grasse Tyson has previously suggested the events are just a little bit over-hyped.