“At certain times of the year, the moon is at its closest point to Earth, and these are called supermoons,” Mike Hankey, director of operations for the American Meteor Society, said via email. “It’s just a physical point in the moon’s orbit. At either end, the moon is either a little bigger or a little smaller (at its furthest point), but it’s not a huge difference.” This closest approach is called perigee and is only about 226,000 miles (363,300 kilometers) from Earth, according to NASA. This is why a supermoon also appears slightly brighter than a normal full moon. The moon’s distance from Earth changes during the month because its orbit is not a perfect circle, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. If you snap a nice photo of the supermoon, you could share it on social media with the hashtag #NASAMoonSnap — the catchphrase NASA uses to track moon-inspired content leading up to the Artemis I launch later this summer. the first test flight of the rocket and spacecraft that will send future astronauts to the moon, according to NASA’s Tumblr. The agency shared a guide to photographing the moon and will share some users’ content on social media platforms during the launch broadcast. The sturgeon moon will steal the spotlight from the Perseid meteor shower that peaks Thursday through Saturday. “Bright phases of the moon are bad for the meteor shower as they wash out the fainter meteors,” Hankey said. “A full or near-full moon dominates a part of the sky, making that part undesirable for meteor viewing. The full moon also lasts the entire night, leaving no hours of complete darkness, which is preferred.” The Perseid meteor shower runs from July 14 to September 1, and this year’s barely visible peak will occur at 11 p.m. ET Friday (3:00 a.m. UTC Saturday), according to EarthSky. In previous years, the Perseids were a much-anticipated shower in the northern hemisphere, where they are usually more visible. But this only happens when the moon is not in a phase that dominates the sky. This year, the Perseids — which increase in number from late evening to early dawn — were most visible in early August when the moon appeared smaller and dimmer. In previous years, they were most visible in nearly moonless skies. The shower debris comes from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which takes 133 years to orbit the sun just once, according to NASA. The comet last entered the inner solar system in 1992.
Remaining space events in 2022
Four more full moons will occur this year, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac:
September 10: Harvest Moon October 9: The Hunter’s Moon November 8: Beaver Moon December 7: Cold moon
Other Native American tribes have different names for the full moon, such as the Cheyenne tribe’s “dried grass moon” for the one that occurs in September, and the Arapaho tribe’s “bursting trees” for the December full moon. Catch a peak of these upcoming meteor shower events later this year, according to EarthSky’s 2022 meteor shower guide:
Dragonids: October 8-9 Orionides: October 20-21 Southern Taurides: November 5 Northern Taurides: November 12 Leonidas: November 17-18 Gemini: December 13-14 Ursids: December 22-23
And there will be another total lunar eclipse and a partial solar eclipse in 2022, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. The partial solar eclipse on October 25 will be visible to people in Greenland, Iceland, Europe, Northeast Africa, the Middle East, West Asia, India and western China. The November 8 total lunar eclipse can be seen in Asia, Australia, the Pacific, South America, and North America between 3:01 a.m. ET and 8:58 A.M. ET. But for people in Eastern North America, the moon will set during this time. Wear appropriate eclipse glasses to safely view solar eclipses, as sunlight can damage the eye.
