‘Learned another new term last night. The weatherman told us to watch for the Super Snow Moon. What? Well, it turns out the full moon in February is referred to as a “snow” moon because the month of February is typically a very snowy month. Okay — I can accept that.
Super Super Snow Moon
What I found more fascinating, however, was when looking at the Supermoon it seemed bigger and brighter than usual. Hm-m. It turns out the February 19, 2019 full moon is the moon which reaches the point of perigee* nearer than any other full moon this year. In my mind, that makes it a super Supermoon. And because it is so very close to the Earth, that means the tides will be higher than usual during the next couple of days. Looks like the potential for some more flooding on parts of the East Coast. (Mach)
This very short video shows an image of the moon taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in two halves to illustrate the difference in the apparent size and brightness of the moon during a supermoon. The left half shows the apparent size of a supermoon (full moon at perigee), while the right half shows the apparent size and brightness of a micromoon (full moon at apogee). Credits: NASA/Goddard/Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
So while the moon will not be as full again this year as it was last night, get outside and watch the Super Snow Moon for the next few days. It’s a super Supermoon!
To find out when the next super Supermoons will be lighting the Earth, go to EarthSky.
*Lunar perigee is the point where the moon is closest to Earth in its monthly orbit.
Note: the next Supermoon will be March 21st.
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