4 Dec, 2017 @ 12:22
1 min read

All you need to know about tonight’s Supermoon in Spain

supermoon tonight

STARGAZERS will be treated to the only supermoon, AKA perigee syzygy, in 2017 tonight.

The Moon will be especially large and bright, because it is at its closest distance to Earth.

The perigee moon (prerequisite for a supermoon) happens because as the moon orbits the Earth it does so in an oval or elliptical shape, meaning sometimes the moon is closer to the Earth and at other times it is farther.

For a supermoon to exist, there must both be a full moon as well as a perigee moon, hence why the moon tonight will look especially close, full, and bright.

The most recent supermoon was around a year ago on November 14, 2016.

 

The moon tonight will be 7% larger and 15% brighter than normal, which may be hard to discern without a direct comparison of a normal moon beside it.

The moon will be brightest around midnight when it is highest above the horizon.

Often, if the moon is on the horizon our brains are tricked into viewing the moon larger and brighter than it really is.

This is called a ‘moon illusion’ and happens because your brain compares the moon’s size with adjacent objects such as buildings or trees and interprets the moon to be much larger than it actually is.

Tonight’s supermoon will be 222,761 miles from Earth, some 16,139 miles closer than the usual average distance of 238,900 miles.

Dress warm and try to drive to a location away from light pollution to see the moon better.

 

Laurence Dollimore

Laurence Dollimore is a Spanish-speaking, NCTJ-trained journalist with almost a decade’s worth of experience.
The London native has a BA in International Relations from the University of Leeds and and an MA in the same subject from Queen Mary University London.
He earned his gold star diploma in multimedia journalism at the prestigious News Associates in London in 2016, before immediately joining the Olive Press at their offices on the Costa del Sol.
After a five-year stint, Laurence returned to the UK to work as a senior reporter at the Mail Online, where he remained for two years before coming back to the Olive Press as Digital Editor in 2023.
He continues to work for the biggest newspapers in the UK, who hire him to investigate and report on stories in Spain.
These include the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Mail Online, Mail on Sunday and The Sun and Sun Online.
He has broken world exclusives on everything from the Madeleine McCann case to the anti-tourism movement in Tenerife.

GOT A STORY? Contact newsdesk@theolivepress.es or call +34 951 273 575 Twitter: @olivepress

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