The super moon will appear! Come and see it tomorrow night

Poster production: Feng Juan

According to astronomical science experts, a "supermoon" will appear in the night sky on June 14 (May 16 of the lunar calendar), which is also the "second largest full moon" of the year. By then, as long as the weather is fine, people from all over my country can enjoy a round and smooth big moon, like an exquisite white jade plate hanging high in the sky.

This is the "super moon" photographed in Lhasa on March 10, 2020, and it is also the "second largest full moon" of the year. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Pubuzaxi)

When the moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the earth and their ecliptic longitudes differ by 180 degrees, the moon seen from the earth is the roundest and is called a "full moon" or "wang". The 14th, 15th, 16th and even 17th day of each lunar month are all possible periods for a full moon to appear.

Xiu Lipeng, a member of the Chinese Astronomical Society and director of the Tianjin Astronomical Society, introduced that the elliptical orbit of the moon around the earth is a little "flatter" than the elliptical orbit of the earth around the sun. In addition, the moon is relatively close to the earth, so the moon looks a little larger when it is near the perigee than when it is near the apogee.

There are usually 12 or 13 full moons in a Gregorian calendar year. If the full moon is near perigee, the moon will look big and round, which is called a "supermoon" or "super full moon". "Supermoons" are not uncommon, with one or two and three or four a year. When the full moon occurs at the time closest to the moon's perigee, the annual "biggest full moon" will appear.

Comic Producer: Hu Yanzhu

The full moon on June 14 was at its fullest at 19:52, and the moon passed its perigee at 7:23 on June 15. The difference between the fullest time and the perigee time was less than 12 hours, so the apparent diameter of the full moon was very large, almost the same as the "largest full moon" of this year. The "largest full moon" of this year appeared on July 14 (the 16th day of the sixth lunar month).

This is the "super moon" and "Mid-Autumn Festival reunion moon (full moon)" (collage) taken by Li Lei of the Nanjing Astronomy Enthusiasts Association in Zhengzhou in 2012. (Photo provided by myself)

"After nightfall on the 14th, interested people from all over my country can pay attention to this big moon in the night sky and appreciate it with naked eyes without the help of any equipment." Xiu Lipeng said, "The 'smallest full moon' of this year occurred on January 18 this year. If people who are interested took pictures of this full moon at that time, they can use the same equipment and the same focal length parameters to take pictures again when the moon is at the same horizontal coordinate position, and compare the two to see how 'big' this year's 'second largest full moon' is."

Source: Xinhuanet