Night delight: ‘supermoon’ graces Earth’s skies

“Supermoon“, the largest, brightest full moon in nearly seven decades shone bright over Beijing, the capital of China and Taipei, the capital of Taiwan on Monday (November 14).

The large moon, which astronomers said was closer to Earth than at any time since 1948 appeared up to 14 percent bigger, and 30 percent brighter, than usual, NASA said.

“It is super big and super round, just as if it has been drawn with a compass, that degree of roundness, without any imperfections, all very beautiful. Just like that. I feel very excited. Standing in line was worth it,” Lin Yu-Hsuan, a sky-watcher in Taiwan said.

At its closest approach at 1123 GMT on Monday, the moon passed within 216,486 miles (348,400 km) of the Earth’s surface, about 22,000 miles (35,400 km) closer than average, the agency added.

The moon‘s distance from Earth varies because it is in an egg-shaped, not circular, orbit around the planet.

The next opportunity to see a full moon come as close to Earth will be in 2034.