See the difference between the full moon and the supermoon 0:39
(CNN Spanish) --
You may have heard the term supermoon, accompanied by impressive photographs touring social networks.
Also, you may have noticed that each supermoon comes with a different name.
The term "supermoon" refers to when the moon appears much larger than normal and appears that way because it is much closer to Earth, according to NASA.
Scientists call this phenomenon a perigee full moon, which is when the moon is at the closest point in its orbit to planet Earth.
An important characteristic for these moons to be called supermoons is that they are also full moons, says NASA.
The term generally denotes a brighter full moon, and therefore appears larger in the night sky.
According to NASA, the term refers to the geometric alignment of the Sun, Earth, and Moon "that causes perigee to occur over a longer period of time than the actual instant of perigee (up to about two weeks, which is about half of the orbit of the Moon).
advertising
A rare planetary alignment will take over the sky in June
1 of 8
|
The pink supermoon over Havana, Cuba.
(Photo by YAMIL LAGE/AFP via Getty Images)
2 of 8
|
Caracas Venezuela.
(Photo by FEDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images)
3 of 8
|
New York, United States, (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
4 of 8
|
The moon is seen over the Carnival Vista cruise ship in Miami Beach, Florida.
(Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
5 of 8
|
The moon is seen behind Stonehenge in Amesbury, England.
(Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
6 of 8
|
Istanbul, Turkey.
(Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
7 of 8
|
The moon over the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
(Photo by Sam Tarling/Getty Images)
8 of 8
|
Glastonbury, England.
(Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
Some supermoons are closer to Earth than others.
"The shape of the Moon's orbit changes over time (thanks to the gravitational influence of the Sun and the other planets). The extreme perigees and apogees, or the most distant point of the orbit, occur in a predictable way," says the POT.
"The term 'supermoon' is much more recent and has come to mean any full or new moon within 90% of its closest approach to Earth," Christine Shupla, manager of education and public engagement at the Lunar and Planetary, wrote to CNN. Institute, in an email last year.
Some adhere to a stricter definition of a supermoon, such as Noah Petro, a lunar scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
"That there is no standard definition is a nuisance, but anything that gets people interested and excited to look and want to know more about the Moon is a great thing," Petro told CNN in an email.
How to admire the supermoons, eclipses, meteors and more for this 2022 1:00
The distances of the Moon and the Earth
Imagine that the Moon revolves around the Earth in an ellipse shape, so there are times when it is closer to Earth than other times.
The farthest point of that ellipse is called the apogee and is when the Moon is about 405,000 kilometers away from Earth, according to NASA.
The closest point of the journey is called perigee and is when the moon is about 363,300 kilometers from Earth, says NASA.
"When a full moon appears at perigee, it is slightly brighter and larger than a normal full moon, and that's where we have a supermoon," adds NASA.
2022 supermoons
By 2022 there will be a total of 12 full moons, but only four of them qualify as supermoons, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac: those in May, June, July and August.
The others will be full moons, named according to the customs of Native American tribes:
January 17: Wolf Moon
February 16: Snow Moon
March 18: Worm Moon
April 16: Pink Moon
May 16: Flower Moon — Supermoon
June 14: Strawberry Moon — Supermoon
July 13: Stag Moon — Supermoon
August 11: Sturgeon Moon — Supermoon
September 10: Harvest Moon
October 9: Hunter's Moon
November 8: Beaver Moon
December 7: Cold Moon
Super moon