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“Supermoon” takes to the sky this Sunday, Monday

The moon appears slightly bigger and slightly brighter than your ordinary full moon

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ROANOKE, Va. – Both the weather and science communities have played host to certain buzzwords over the year. Some of these include “polar vortex,” “bombogenesis” and of course, “supermoon.”

I’m sure anyone in education, law enforcement and emergency services (just to name a few professions) will cringe at this word. As if it could get any worse than a normal full moon, right?

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Sunday and Monday, however, we will all bare witness to the supermoon (which we do several times a year, by the way). This term, much like the moon, seemed to rise overnight.

The moon orbits around Earth and will reach two different points in that orbit. One is called apogee, which is its farthest point from the earth. The other is perigee, which is its closest point to the earth.

When the full moon is at perigee, it may appear slightly bigger and slightly brighter than your ordinary full moon.

A supermoon happens when the full moon is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit.

It’s still a really cool sight to see, and we often get some wonderful pictures of it. Be sure to send your pictures to Pin It by clicking this link.