‘Supermoon’ in North America tonight

This video is called SUPERMOON TONIGHT July 12, 2014 – The 2014 Supermoon Summer!

Don’t Miss Tonight’s Supermoon!

Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2014 by eNature

The moon that rises tonight (Saturday) is what has come to be called a “supermoon” — only hours from being perfectly full and hours from one of the year’s closest approaches to Earth.

This combination makes the moon appear bigger and somewhat brighter than usual, even for a full moon. And because the moon always looks larger as it rises, moonrise Saturday night may show off a moon that appears about as big, bright and round as the moon can get.

As the moon rises in the southeast at Saturday evening (at 8:30 or so on the East Coast) it will move west across the dark heavens through the night and early morning before setting in the southwest on Sunday morning.

Astronomers caution that without special equipment it’s difficult for the average skywatcher to assess the moon’s brightness or size. But a supermoon last year was reported to be about 15 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the year’s run-of-the-mill full moons, and many people may consider themselves capable of spotting a 30 percent boost in brightness.

Of course, the brightness of the moon, as seen from earth, will depend, in part, on the sky’s clarity and the amount of cloud cover. If clouds do intervene, the next supermoon is not far off. There will be one in August and another in September.

More on the supermoon at Earthsky.com.