Next Tuesday, September 9, we will have the opportunity to contemplate the last of this year's supermoons, and it is already the third we see this summer. The previous ones took place on July 12 and August 10; the latter coincided with the classic Perseid meteor shower.
As on previous occasions, the phenomenon that will occur next Tuesday will make our satellite look 14% larger and 30% brighter from Earth, which invites us not to miss such a show in the night sky.
The supermoon phenomenon occurs because the full moon varies in size due to the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. It follows an elliptical path around the Earth with one side, "perigee", about 50,000 kilometers closer than the other side, "apogee". Thus, the full moons that occur on the perigee side of the Moon's orbit, we observe in this extraordinary way : larger and brighter than ever.
According to NASA, "Generally speaking, full moons occur near perigee every 13 months and 18 days, so it's not that unusual." Either way, this will be the last chance we have in 2014 to observe a supermoon. After this, we will have to wait until September 28, 2015 to see a moon as bright and capital as this one .
