Supermoon
The moon is Earth's satellite orbiting in an oval shape. So sometimes it
comes closer to the Earth than at other
times. At perigee the moon is closest to the Earth and at apogee it is farthest(refer fig
above). During that time of perigee, the
moon appears bigger and brighter. The event is a spectacular sight for sky–gazers.
The spectacular incident occured recently on 14th Nov, 2016 with the moon
appearing approx. 14% bigger and 30%
brighter than normal. Previous to it, our celestial neighbour got up close was in 1948 and
the next time would be on 25 Nov, 2034.
An optical illusion called "low hanging moon" is caused due to the moon being close to the
horizon.
On Nov 14th, 16 the moon was at a distance of approximately 356,508 km
from Earth – which in space terms is
almost a touching distance! The closest full moon of the whole of 21st century will fall on
6 Dec, 2052.