Astronomy and photography enthusiasts have much to look forward to this weekend: lighting up the night skies this coming Saturday is the ‘supermoon’.
A modern terminology, the supermoon, astronomically speaking, is when the full moon or the new moon aligns closest to the earth in its orbit, making it appear much larger than usual. In technical terms, this proximity is called a perigee-syzygy.
Though some astrology enthusiasts have linked the supermoon to tides, and then to increased risks of natural calamities, scientists believe there is hardly any scientific evidence on this.
On June 22, the moon will be at a distance of 356,991 km from the earth, and this is the moon’s closest encounter with the earth for all of 2013, and the next big moon is expected in August 2014.
Supernatural mystique notwithstanding, Saturday’s moon is special, particularly for photography enthusiasts who will find the spectacle worth capturing. “It’s a complicated picture, and a challenging one. Most of us wait for it, mainly because it’s a challenge to capture the perfect picture. Think about it: it isn’t easy to show that the moon is bigger than usual in a picture. So, it’s a skilled task,” says Siddharth, an amateur photographer, who recalls that his photos of the supermoon a few years back went viral on the web.
