The International Space Station shared a series of photographs of the ‘Pink Supermoon’ on its official Instagram handle. The pictures showed the magnificient moon shining brightly above the Earth’s horizon.
The term “supermoon” was coined by the astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 and refers to either a new or full moon that occurs within 90 percent of perigee, its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit.
“The Super Moon was recently photographed from the station. It is a spectacular sight from space no matter what phase the Moon is in,” the ISS captioned the post.
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The phenomenon of the Supermoon occurs when the distance of the full moon to Earth fluctuates. The moon’s elliptical orbit around the Earth causes fluctuation. When the full moon occurs at the closest point to Earth on its orbit, also known as perigee, it can appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter in comparison to when the full moon occurs closer to the farthest point, also known as apogee.
If you wish to witness the Supermoon from your own eyes, you can see a bigger and brighter Pink Supermoon that will take place next month. On May 26, the full moon will be even closer to the Earth and slightly bigger than it was this week.
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