An elliptic orbit means the moon come close to the earth at one point, called perigee, and is far away at another, called apogee, during the 27-day cycle. In the picture, the 'supermoon' is seen from the balcony of a residential block in Hong Kong on December 3, 2017.
The moon rises behind the Uppatasanti Pagoda seen in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017. This is the first of three consecutive supermoons. The other two will occur on Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, 2018.
According to the NASA website, the moon’s orbit around the earth is not a perfect circle. It travels in an ellipse that brings it closer to and farther from earth. Picture shows the Buddha statue with the supermoon rising behind it in Hyderabad.
The term ‘supermoon’ is not the scientific term for the occurance, seen rising over a building in the Israeli city of Netanya in the picture.
The Supermoon rises above Whitby Abbey in Whitby, north east England. Full moons can occur at any point along the moon’s elliptical path, according to NASA.
The moon on January 31 will be called a ‘blue moon’ as it will be the second full moon in a month, a rare occurance that triggered the phrase “once in a blue moon”. Here the supermoon rises over the CN Tower and skyline in Toronto, Ontario.
This is the first of three consecutive supermoons. The next two will occur on Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, 2018. IN picture, the supermoon rises behind a replica of the Statue of Liberty sitting atop the Liberty Building in downtown Buffalo.