Biggest supermoon will rise Sunday

On Sunday, we’ll see a special cosmological treat. The year’s biggest and brightest full moon will rise.

This year has three supermoons. We had one July 12, and have yet another one Sept. 9. But the supermoon this weekend is the most “super” of the bunch.

The term refers to the time when the moon, which orbits Earth in a slightly elliptical trajectory, is at the absolute closest it can get while also being full. Other full moons have come close. But as a supermoon, Sunday’s will be ever so slightly more magnificent.

“The size difference between even the dimmest and brightest full moon is only a bit more than 10 percent,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, research space scientist at NASA’ Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “So the difference between other ‘supermoons’ and this one isn’t huge.” But he said the event is a great excuse to take a moment to enjoy the beauty of the moon, something so often ignored in hectic daily life.

Lunar events should be especially exciting to urbanites.

“Normally, when cool stuff is happening in the night sky, we miss it because of the light pollution,” Domagal-Goldman said. “But there’s no such thing as too much light pollution to see the moon. All you need is nighttime and a clear sky. If you live in a city and want to share in the awe of the cosmos, this is the astronomical event for you.”

To get those clear skies, Domagal-Goldman recommends going out right at moonrise when there is less likely to be cloud cover. And some optical tricks will help your viewing experience at that time, too.

“It’s going to look biggest and brightest to us when it’s right next to the horizon,” Domagal-Goldman said. When the moon is next to things that we are familiar with, such as trees, it looks much bigger than when surrounded by other astronomical bodies, such as stars.

Known as the Sturgeon Moon (because of the abundance of sturgeon in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain at this time of year), it becomes full officially this Sunday at 2:09 p.m., just 26 minutes after coming closest to Earth.

While the moon officially reaches full phase and cozies closet to Earth on Sunday afternoon, it will appear more or less full Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening for night skywatchers (at 96 to 99 percent illumination).

Once it is high in the sky, observers should not expect to see much of a difference between this full moon and others.

“A 30 percent difference in brightness can easily be masked by clouds and haze,” according to NASA. “Also, there are no rulers floating in the sky to measure lunar diameters. Hanging high overhead with no reference points to provide a sense of scale, one full Moon looks about the same size as any other.”

Geoff Chester, an astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory, writes on his blog that it is difficult to tell one moon apart from another. Rather, the “moon illusion” – in which the moon appears much bigger than it actually is when it sits on the horizon – is what people remember most.

But Chester pointed to a possible benefit from this supermoon craze: “If it gets people out and looking at the night sky and maybe hooks them into astronomy, then it’s a good thing.”

The moon will rise at 7:55 p.m. Sunday and set at 7:20 a.m. Monday.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order halting work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.