What they don’t tell you about the “supermoon”

​Okay, the supermoon hasn’t been this close to the earth in a long time, since 1948! It won’t be closer for another 18 years. But how much further away will it be tomorrow, or even next year? 

 Yesterday, the moon was 221,524 miles from the earth. On December 12, the next full moon, the moon will be 222,737 from the earth, only .5% farther. No, not 5%, .5%!

Chart
 The average distance of the moon from the earth is approximately 238,855 miles, approximately 14% farther. Now that is a big difference. But, that’s the average. 

 When the moon is closest to the earth, it’s called the perigee. When the earth and the moon are farthest apart, that’s called the apogee. Since the moon travels on an ellipse, every month the moon experiences an apogee and a perigee. In other words, every month the moon comes close to the earth and it also travels far away from the earth.

 What does this all mean? It means, on average, when the moon is at it’s closest point to the earth, the perigee, it’s not much farther away than when we experience a “supermoon!”

 So, why all the hype?!  Who knows. 

 On December 12, the next perigee full moon, you will not be able to tell the difference between that full moon and the full moon on November 14.

Happy moon watching!

Peter