"Well it's a marvelous night for a moondance..."
It's that time again — a big, bright, beautiful "Super Moon" will mark the evening skies this weekend.
Summer officially begins Friday morning at 1:04 a.m. and what better way to celebrate the season than looking to the heavens Saturday night for the largest moon of 2013? The crest of the moon’s full phase and perigee fall within an hour of each other. (The actual peak time is apparently Sunday morning, at 6:32 a.m.)
The term supermoon denotes a full moon that occurs at roughly the same time the moon is nearest Earth in its monthly orbit, according to Earthsky.org. At its full phase and closest to the earth, known as perigee — 221,823 miles — the "Super Moon" will be 16 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than usual, according to National Geographic.
If you're trying to photograph the moon this weekend, it's best to get something else in the photo with it, like buildings, mountains and clouds. The best time to photograph the moon is at sunset and sunrise.
The weather forecast for Saturday night is partly cloudy with a high in the 60s. Let's hope for clear enough weather to see the "Super Moon."
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