CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—October’s supermoon is the closest of the year and it’s teaming up with a comet for a rare stargazing two-for-one.
The third of four supermoons this year, it will be 222,055 miles away Wednesday night, making it seem even bigger and brighter than in August and September. It will reach its full lunar phase on Thursday.
In a twist of cosmic fate, a comet is in the neighborhood. Discovered last year, comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is now prominent in the Northern Hemisphere after wowing stargazers in the Southern Hemisphere.
The moonlight will wash out some of the comet’s tail, but it’s still worth a look after sunset, said NASA’s Bill Cooke.
“Most astronomers hate the full moon because its bright light messes up observing other objects. So it’s a bit hard for us to wax poetic about it even if it’s the biggest supermoon of 2024,” he said in an email.
What Makes a moon so Super?
More a popular term than a scientific one, a supermoon occurs when a full lunar phase syncs up with an especially close swing around Earth. This usually happens only three or four times a year and consecutively, given the moon’s constantly shifting, oval-shaped orbit.A supermoon obviously isn’t bigger, but it can appear that way, although scientists say the difference can be barely perceptible.
How Do Supermoons Compare?
There’s a quartet of supermoons this year.The one in August was 224,917 miles away. September’s was nearly 3,000 miles closer the night of Sept. 17 into the following morning. A partial lunar eclipse also unfolded that night, visible in much of the Americas, Africa, and Europe as Earth’s shadow fell on the moon, resembling a small bite.
What’s in It for Me?
Scientists point out that only the keenest observers can discern the subtle differences. It’s easier to detect the change in brightness—a supermoon can be 30 percent brighter than average.With the United States and other countries ramping up lunar exploration with landers and eventually astronauts, the moon beckons brighter than ever.