Tonight the brightest Superluna of 2020. It is the second of the four scheduled in close succession during the year, after the first in February and those scheduled in April and May. On the ANSA Science and Technology channel, live observation with the Virtual Telescope from 17.30 to admire the Superluna rising over the monuments of Rome.
In the night between 9 and 10 March the full moon is in fact a little closer, so as to give the feeling of being a little bigger and brighter than usual. "The next Super Moon will appear about 7% bigger and a little brighter than the average, but only an expert observer could realize it", notes the astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, scientific director of the Virtual Telescope Project. "These are not exactly striking variations, which nevertheless - he continues - add charm to the event and are a precious opportunity to admire our natural satellite".
The full moon appears a little larger and brighter coincides with the moment in which it is at the minimum distance from Earth (perigee): at 7.34 on March 10, it will be 357.122 kilometers from Earth, while the average distance is just over 384,000 kilometers. This overlap between full moon and passage to the perigee, continues Masi, is now popularly referred to as Superluna, even if the term "has no scientific value: in astronomy we prefer to speak of Full Moon at Perigee, but undoubtedly the name of Superluna has a charm of its own. "
According to Masi, "that offered by the Superluna is a precious opportunity to invite the general public to recover the awareness of the landscape of the sky also from the city, notoriously not very favorable to the vision of the stars due to light pollution". The live broadcast is in fact part of the activities of the "Dark Skies for All" project (Dark skies for all) promoted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which aims to raise awareness of the importance of safeguarding the sky from light pollution.
