The moon turns precisely full on November 14, 2016 at 1352 UTC. This full moon instant will happen in the morning hours before sunrise in western North America and the Pacific islands (to the east of the International Date Line).
But no matter. The moon will look plenty full and bright all night long on both nights – November 13 and 14 – as it rises in the east around sunset, climbs highest up around midnight, and then sets in the west at or near sunset.
Day and night sides of Earth at the instant of the November 2016 full moon (2016 November 14 at 1352 UTC) via EarthView. At this time, it’ll be sunrise on November 14 in western North America. In eastern North America, the moon will have set before the moon turns exactly full, and it’ll be a waning moon that rises on the evening of November 14.
Want the exact time of full moon for North American time zones? Okay, so the moon will reach the crest of its full phase on November 14 at 1352 UTC. That translates to 9:52 a.m. AST, 8:52 a.m. EST, 7:52 a.m. CST, 6:52 a.m. MST, 5:52 a.m. PST.
The moon will reach perigee – the moon’s closest point to Earth for this month – within an one and one-half hours of that time.
Extremely careful observers might notice it appears at its largest in our sky. Photo comparisons like the one at the top of this page, and the one below, will certainly show it. And all of us can notice that the moon will appear at its brightest in our sky. The moon won’t be so close and bright again for another 18 years.
We astronomers call this sort of close full moon a perigee full moon. The word perigee describes the moon’s closest point to Earth for any given month. Five years ago – when the closest and largest full moon fell on March 19, 2011 – many began using the term supermoon, which we’d never heard before. In the following years, we heard this term again to describe the year’s closest full moon on May 6, 2012, and again on June 23, 2013, and again on August 10, 2014, and yet again on September 28, 2015.
Now the term supermoon is being used a lot, and, personally, we approve! It’s a good descriptive term for the closest full moons, much easier to remember than perigee full moon.
Last month’s full moon – on October 16, 2016 – was also a supermoon. But the November full moon is even more super! In other words, the time of full moon falls even closer to the time of the moon’s closest point to Earth.
http://earthsky.org/?p=190918
[ Post made via iPhone ]
