The biggest Supermoon of the year comes a month after the Supermoon lunar eclipse of January 21, 2019. The Supermoon is just one of three this year and will be followed by another Supermoon in March. Stargazers are now encouraged to step outside on the night of the Supermoon and witness the spectacle of nature in person. And if that is not enticing enough, keep in mind last February 2018 had no Full Moon at all.
But not every perigean Moon is a Supermoon, because the lunar orb has to be at its Full Moon phase during perigee.
And according to maritime astronomer Bruce McClure of EarthSky.org, the upcoming Moon at Perigee will be the largest of the year.
The astronomer said: “Although the Moon appears full for a few to several days in succession, the Moon is only truly full for a fleeting instant – when the Moon lies 180-degrees opposite the Sun, from the vantage point of Earth.
“This Full Moon moment arrives on February 19, 2019, at 3.53pm Universal Time.”
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In the United States, this means the Super Full Moon will be visible just before 11am on the East Coast and 7.53am Pacific Time.
In the UK, unfortunately, this moment will occur more than an hour before the glowing orb rises over the horizon, when seen from London.
On February 19, the Moon will rise at 5.11pm GMT (UTC) and set the following morning at 7.50am GMT.
So you might miss the exact moment the Supermoon peaks, but you will not see any noticeable difference if you look up over the next few hours.
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What is a Supermoon?
As the Moon barrels around the Earth on elliptic orbit, it comes closer to and farther from the planet at different times.
NASA’s Lyle Tavernier explained: “The Moon doesn’t orbit in a perfect circle. Instead, it travels in an ellipse that brings the Moon closer to and farther from Earth in its orbit.
“The farthest point in this ellipse is called the apogee and is about 405,500 kilometres from Earth on average.
Its closest point is the perigee, which is an average distance of about 363,300 kilometres from Earth.
“During every 27-day orbit around Earth, the Moon reaches both its apogee and perigee.”