Biggest Supermoon of the Year is on July 13: When, Where to Watch the Super Buck Moon

Supermoons are not exceedingly rare events as they appear regularly as part of the Moon's elliptical orbit. Supermoon occurs when there is full moon in closest proximity to the earth. The full moon is going to make headway among the celestial asterisms in the bright night sky on this day. Supermoon appears about 14% bigger than the average full moon, truly king size, yet realistic, in its gigantic bright avatar. Let us study this astronomical event in detail.

Supermoon 2022: Date and Time

The buck supermoon, will show up at 12:07 am on the night of 13 July 2022. In fact, Moon is slowly inching his way, away from earth, and the average moon, scores of years ago, was the same size as today's supermoon. Otherwise dubbed as the Buck Moon, the Hay Moon, the Berry Moon, the Halfway Summer Moon or the Salmon Moon, this mammoth sized moon, next time, will reemerge on 03 July 2023. Strawberry supermoon had turned up in June last year. The moon at this time has happened to be at a distance of 3,63,300 kilometers away from the Earth.

Supermoon 2022: Where Does It Occur?

It is an awesome package sent for the sky watchers, from up above the sky. Hence it is best to look for it in the eastern part of sky in the evening, at the highest point in the sky in the zero hours, and in the west before it dawns. During sunset, you can see all full moons rising along the eastern part of the horizon and setting in the west close to sunrise. Stargazers can use the opportunity to watch the full moon all night, after sunset, the full supermoon in July, rises in the southeast in Sagittarius.

As per a NASA report, the full moon this time is going to be on 13 July 2022 at 2:38 pm EDT, on a Thursday morning, India time. For three long days, we can see the bewitching full Moon continuously for three long days from Tuesday morning to Friday morning." On rare occasions, a lunar eclipse and the supermoon occur simultaneously wherein the moon appears with a bright red tint. Hence he is referred to as the super blood moon. Similarly, the second full moon in a calendar month is called Blue moon. We sighted a Super Blue Blood Moon way back in the night of 31 January in 2018.

This enlarged view of the moon, on the night sky, is an optical illusion created by the moon. It is when the moon comes in proximity to the horizon, beyond the moon rise or moon set hours, that this optical illusion comes into effect. It will be a power packed display for the stargazers who will be glued to the charming views of the hay moon, which is, an event of astronomical significance that grabs the limelight in the celestial sky.

'Supermoons only happen three to four times a year and always appear consecutively,' according to astronomers at NASA. The "Super Thunder Moon" that makes a grand entry in the eastern sky will be accompanied and not Rise alone in the eastern sky right around sunset on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, and it won't be alone. It will be accompanied by the Saturn who will cruise along the same direction a little before midnight.

Jupiter and Mars also register their presence in the eastern sky, around 02:00 am local time.

Supermoon 2022: Apogee and Perigee

Apogee is when the Moon is at the farthest point from the earth, whereas Perigee is when moon is closest to the earth in distance. When it is at Perigee, the moon measures around 34 arcminutes, while at apogee its size would be about 30 arcminutes. The phase cycle and the orbit cycle do not operate simultaneously.

Supermoon appears when the Full Moon or New Moon draws close to the Moon's perigee. On the other hand, it comes to be called Micromoon when the Full Moon or New Moon get closer to the Moon's apogee. Conceptually, the Lunar Phase, and apogee/perigee are not interconnected due to the above reason.

The perigee syzygy full Moon, is a term in which syzygy refers to a the line up or an arrangement of three or more planetary system ( the moon, the earth and the sun) that are affected by gravitation. Similarly apogee syzygy full moon is referred to as micromoon.

Astronomically speaking, the perigee syzygy Moon appears on Wednesday 13 July 2022, at 19:38 BST (18:38 UT), just 9hrs 29m at the closest point or the perigee in the Moon's elliptical orbit that is nearest to earth.

'Supermoon' refers to either a new or full moon which arises when the Moon is within 90% of the perigee or at the closest point. In reality, a full Moon at perigee appears larger as it gets closer to earth, and only 30 percent brighter than an apogee full moon. A supermoon is also calculated to be about 7% larger and 15% brighter than the average full Moon that we usually see. About 12 or 13 full moons are normally visible to the viewers on earth, but not every full moon can be labelled as a Supermoon.

Supermoon 2022: Why Does It Happen?

A super moon, in order to be called so, has to be at a distance of 360,000km away from Earth or less. A supermoon can happen only if the moon is at its closest approach, or perigee, to the Earth in its 27-day elliptical orbit. The moon also should be at the full phase, which happens every 29.5 days. Two or four supermoons in a row, is actually an isolated occurrence but three supermoons in a row is more frequent in nature. It is widely discussed that supermoon has equally colossal effects on human life and our planet, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods but it is only a hearsay as it is not based on scientific evidence.

As the moon's gravity pulls on the earth, it generates the tidal force on earth which is exactly when we see high tides on both sides of the earth. When the earth sun and moon align in the sky, extreme spring tides are formed but the effect of perigean spring tides does not affect the tidal variations significantly.

Image sources: Pixabay