Tonight a supermoon will be in the sky – here’s what it is

A supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee – the closest that the moon comes to the earth in its elliptic orbit – resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the lunar disk as viewed from Earth.

The real association of the moon with both oceanic and crustal tides has led to claims that the supermoon phenomenon may be associated with increased risk of events like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but no such link has ever been found.

The opposite phenomenon, a full (or new) moon around apogee, has been called a micromoon.

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