Supermoon to rise on December 3, 2017 – watch out for the rare sight!

Do not miss beholding the big and bright supermoon on Sunday night provided the weather gods are favourable enough to grant the ‘heavenly’ vision.
The word “supermoon” was coined by Richard Nolle, an astrologer, in 1979.

According to NASA, the December supermoon can look 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter as compared to when a full moon is at its remotest point from earth.
The astronomical word given to supermoon is ‘Perigee Syzygy’. Syzygy means when the sun, moon and earth fine tune and come in a straight line. The precise moment of formation of the full moon/supermoon is 10:46 am Eastern Times (ET) on December 3, 2017; (9:46 a.m. CT, 8:46 a.m. MT, and 6:46 a.m. PT), as per reports.


During this time, the supermoon won’t be seen largely seen over North America. Yet, it will look pretty bigger in size when it rises eastwards on Sunday evening.

As a result of the optical illusion called the Moon Illusion, the full moon can look enormous when rising in the background of faraway objects on the horizon. A supermoon is a very absorbing object to behold.

The National Weather Service said that it is expected to see cloudless skies through most of the eastern US, barring New England and in the vicinity of the Great Lakes. In the upper Midwest, Rockies, Northern Plains and the Northwest, the clouds are likely to block the sight of the supermoon.


The moon will arrive at perigee, the point in its orbit which is closest to the earth, at 3:45 am. Eastern Time (ET) Monday. The moon is approximately 2, 38, 000 miles away from the earth, but on Monday, it will be 2, 22, 135 miles.

In case you aren’t able to view the supermoon on December 3, know that you wouldn’t have to wait for long to watch the next supermoon: in 2018, the first two full moons will also be supermoons!

More than a year back, on November 14, 2016, an exclusively large supermoon was witnessed by the world. It looked very much similar to the ones seen on January 26, 1948. We shall now have to wait till November 25, 2034 to watch a similar supermoon.