{"id":278733,"date":"2025-10-05T04:36:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T04:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/278733\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T04:36:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T04:36:13","slug":"3-straight-dazzling-supermoons-to-illuminate-the-night-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/278733\/","title":{"rendered":"3 straight dazzling supermoons to illuminate the night sky"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEATTLE \u2014 Cross your fingers for some clear nights over the rest of the year, as three straight supermoons<\/a> will light up the night sky. Don’t miss the first one on Oct. 6.<\/p>\n

A supermoon is a full moon that appears larger and brighter than normal because it is at a point known as perigee. Because the moon’s orbit around the Earth is elliptical, the perigee is the moon’s closest approach to our planet.<\/p>\n

“Supermoon” isn\u2019t an official astronomical term, but typically it\u2019s used to describe a full Moon that comes within at least 90 percent of perigee,” NASA wrote on its website<\/a>. “Supermoons only happen three to four times a year, and always appear consecutively.”<\/p>\n

PHOTOS | Supermoons shining bright<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A supermoon is defined as when the moon is closer than 360,000 kilometers\u2014about 223,694 miles\u2014from the Earth.<\/p>\n

On the evening of Oct. 6, the “Harvest Moon” will rise above the horizon. It is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox and the start of fall.<\/p>\n

“The name dates from the time before electricity, when farmers depended on the Moon’s light to harvest their crops late into the night,” according to NASA Space Place<\/a>. “The Moon’s light was particularly important during fall, when harvests are the largest.”<\/p>\n

The next full moon, the “Beaver Moon,” will fall on Nov. 5.<\/p>\n

The Beaver Moon is the closest the moon will be to Earth all year.<\/p>\n

“The Maine Farmer’s Almanac first published Indian names for the full Moons in the 1930s,” according to NASA<\/a>. “According to this almanac, the Native American tribes of what is now the northern and eastern United States named this the Beaver Moon.”<\/p>\n

“The Beaver Moon is the time of year when the beaver is preparing to build their dams before the ground freezes,” the National Park Service wrote on its website<\/a>. “It is also the time of year the first snow falls in northern parts of the US and Canada.”<\/p>\n

The last of the three supermoons is named the “Cold Moon.” This full moon will light up the night on Dec. 4.<\/p>\n

“December\u2019s full moon, the last of the year, is called the Full Cold Moon because it occurs during the beginning of winter,” NASA wrote<\/a>. “<\/p>\n

“This name underscores the harsh conditions of the winter season, with long nights and bitter cold prevailing,” Nebraskaland Magazine wrote on its website<\/a>. “It\u2019s a time of introspection, huddling close for warmth, and finding solace in the quiet stillness of the winter landscape.”<\/p>\n

These three supermoons should wow amateur stargazers and professional astronomers alike.<\/p>\n

“At perigee, the Moon can be as much as 14% closer to the Earth than at apogee,” NASA wrote on its website.<\/a> “Something 14% closer to you appears 14% larger across and 30% larger in area, so a full Moon at perigee will reflect 30% more sunlight onto the Earth (in the form of moonlight) than a full Moon at apogee.<\/p>\n

When the moon is closer to the Earth, the gravitational interactions can affect tides.<\/p>\n

“The greatest difference between high and low tide is around Full Moon and New Moon, known as spring tides or king tides,” the website TimeAndDate.com<\/a> wrote. “During these Moon phases, the gravitational forces of the Moon and the Sun combine to pull the ocean\u2019s water in the same direction.”<\/p>\n

Be sure to check local tide levels if you plan to be near the shore.<\/p>\n

If you can’t catch the full moon on the exact day, don’t worry. The days before and after a full moon will still appear very large and bright.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 Cross your fingers for some clear nights over the rest of the year, as three straight…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":278734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[144044,144045,42107,108381,66497,144046,159,144043,83524,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-278733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-beaver-moon","9":"tag-cold-moon","10":"tag-full-moon","11":"tag-harvest-moon","12":"tag-night-sky","13":"tag-perigee","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-supermoons","16":"tag-tides","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115319706929071997","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}