Once-in-a-Lifetime Supermoon Over Connecticut Monday Night

You are going to want to check out the supermoon Monday night. The biggest and brightest moon for observers in the United States will be on Monday just before dawn, according to NASA. On Monday, Nov. 14, the moon is at perigee at 6:22 a.m. EST and “opposite” the sun for the full moon at 8:52 a.m. EST (after moonset for most of the US).

“I’ve been telling people to go out at night on either Sunday or Monday night to see the supermoon,” said Noah Petro, deputy project scientist for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission. “The difference in distance from one night to the next will be very subtle, so if it’s cloudy on Sunday, go out on Monday. Any time after sunset should be fine. Since the moon is full, it’ll rise at nearly the same time as sunset, so I’d suggest that you head outside after sunset, or once it’s dark and the moon is a bit higher in the sky. You don’t have to stay up all night to see it, unless you really want to!”

On Monday night, cloudy skies are likely and there's a 50 percent chance of rain but the rain isn't expected until after midnight in Connecticut, the National Weather Service says.

See also: Loose Moose Halts Traffic; ‘Aggressive’ Bear Euthanized; Woman Saved from Exploding Car: CT News

Supermoons aren't particularly rare. October's full moon was a supermoon, and December's will be, too. But November's will be the biggest supermoon since 1948, according to Bob Berman, an astronomer at the Slooh Community Observatory. And NASA says the moon won't be this big again until 2034.

A supermoon is typically up to 16 percent larger than a regular full moon and is also up to 30 percent brighter. The moon's orbit is oval-shaped, and at times can pass approximately 30,000 miles closer to Earth than usual. When that happens, the moon appears larger and brighter.

Supermoons during the winter months tend to look larger than supermoons that occur during the rest of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. At this time of the year, the Earth is closer to the sun. Because of this, the sun's gravity pulls the moon closer to Earth, making any winter super full moons look bigger than summer perigee moons.

By Patch Staff
»Photo by Derek Keats via Flickr Commons