See the Super Moon in Westport
See the Mega Super Moon, November 14th, 2016 - 8:00 to 10:00 PM
It's November Lunacy this month and the weather seems to be cooperating. Last week it was a commanding view of the Lunar X & V and Monday it's the closest perigee moon since 1948! That makes a nice headline - MEGA SUPER MOON!
How much bigger will it be?
At 3:09PM EST, the moon will pass by the Earth at a distance of 356,511km – the closest it has passed the Earth since 1948. As it does so, it will be a full moon, making it a particularly big supermoon. While we won't be at the observatory to observe this exact moment, we will open the dome from 8 - 10 PM Monday night to view this giant beauty.
Just how rare is it?
This is particularly rare because it relies on 3 things happening at once: the lunar perigee, a full Moon, and Earth being as close as possible to the sun, which is called perihelion. And it hasn't been this close since January 26, 1948. If you miss this one, you have to wait until November 25th, 2034 for all 3 events to converge.
How bright will it look?
While a supermoon is 30% brighter than the smallest full moons, it’s only about 15% brighter than an average full moon.
