Astronomy fans have the opportunity to witness an extraordinary phenomenon tonight from Monday 3rd to Tuesday 4th July. You will actually be able to see a supermoon in the sky, a rare phenomenon that occurs a maximum of three to four times a year.
Note that this supermoon — scientifically called perigee syzygy — has been dubbed the “super stag moon.” The reason is simple: it appears in July, the season when male deer spread their antlers.
The scientific name perigee syzygia refers to the combination of two simultaneous phenomena. The syzygy is that moment of the full moon when the moon and sun face each other with respect to the earth at the center, allowing the sun to illuminate the moon in a specific way. . At perigee, the moon comes closest in its orbit to the earth. Because the Moon’s orbit is elliptical, the Earth-Moon distance is actually variable. At apogee, the point at which the Moon is furthest away, the satellite is 406,000 km from Earth. Conversely, at perigee it is 356,500 km away from us. On this Monday evening, the actual distance to the nearest place is 361,934 km.
Additional full moons are expected this summer: August 1 (“Super Sturgeon Moon”), August 31 (“Super Blue Moon”) and September 29 (“Super Harvest Moon”). Most “notable” will be the super blue moon on August 31st. The latter will be 357,344 km from Earth.
It should also be noted that to be able to properly observe the phenomenon this Monday evening, you have to wait for the sunset and prefer a place without light pollution.