Supermoon set to light up the skies

The moon will be closer to the earth than it has been since Australia Day, 1948.

As the earth and moons’ orbits align, the moon will be about 50,000 kilometres closer than its average distance of 384,402 kilometres.

While we experience so-called supermoons with reasonable regularity, this moon will be even more super.

But astronomer Martin George said all was not what it appeared.

“There is a bit too much hype for the supermoon, in my opinion,” Mr George said, who is an astronomer with the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.

Mr George said, on Monday night, the moon will appear 7.8 per cent larger than normal.

But in comparison to a standard supermoon, he said, it will appear to the naked eye as 0.02 per cent larger than the supermoon of 2011 – the most super of recent history.

“Supermoon is not even a term used by astronomers, it is a word invented by astrologers,” Mr George said.

“And astronomers and astrologers are very different.

“Perigee is the term that astronomers use when the moon is at its closest.

“When it is at its furthest point it is called apogee.”

Mr George said the interesting thing about supermoons, and full moons, was the optical illusion that the human brain and eye conspired together to create.

“When the moon is rising and setting, it appears to the eye at its largest,” Mr George said.

“In fact, it is at its largest, or closest, much later in the night when it is high in the sky.

“We’re not too sure why the brain perceives it that way, but we think it has something with the moon among the scenery.”

Mr George said there were no immediate awe-inspiring astronomical events on the horizon for Australia, but the US was set to bear witnesses to one of the greatest sky sights next year.

A total solar eclipse is set to cut a path from the west to east in August 2017, and Mr George said flights and accommodation along the eclipse path were already totally booked.

“2028 is the really big one for Australian, when the solar eclipse path will go right over Sydney,” Mr George said.

“So in about 2025 you should start making hotel and flight bookings, before they realise what’s happening and jack up the prices!”