You don’t need to be a studious astronomer to appreciate that the Supermoon will be a pretty cool thing. On 14th November glance up at the skies, as the moon is going to be the biggest and brightest it has been for nearly 70 years. And you probably won’t get another chance until 2034, so it’s totally worth skipping that Netflix binge for.
So you’re probably wondering what makes this particular moon so special. Did it, like, start its own underground zine campaigning for Pluto’s reinstatement in planet club or something? Well, it’s super because it’s just way brighter than your run-of-the-mill ‘energy-saving’ lightbulb style moon; it’s 14 percent larger and 30 percent for brighter.
The supermoon – known as a perigee moon – takes place when all the main players: the sun, moon and Earth align and the moon’s orbit is the closest to the Earth, so it appears brighter! And this is the closest it’s been to us since 1948, so it’s kind of a big deal.
But don’t worry about needing any special equipment or telescope to spot it, it’s visible to the naked eye and can be seen from 7.00am ET. If you want to get the best view, leave the City and head into the countryside where there’s less light pollution.
Although supermoons are pretty rare – they take place every 13 months or so – we’ve been a lucky bunch this year with the last three months of 2016 each possessing a supermoon. So if you do miss this one, you get another chance in December!
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.