Pray for clear weather this week. The last supermoon of the year could add extra brightness to the night sky when you’re heading home from work after dark. After the first supermoon in August (also a Blue Moon), followed by a Super Harvest Moon in September (which coincided with a rare partial lunar eclipse), and the closest supermoon of 2024 in October, the run ends with a Super Beaver Moon.
So-called because November is the month beavers are actively preparing for the winter months, the Super Beaver Moon will light up the sky on Friday, November 15. It’s only the the third biggest of 2024’s supermoons, but will still appear 7% larger and 15% brighter than your average full moon. You won’t see another this big until November 5, 2025.
What is a supermoon?
Oddly, it’s not an official astronomical term, with astrologer Richard Nolle defining a ‘supermoon’ in 1979. This is why you may come across discrepancies between what is and isn’t a ‘supermoon’. But most agree that a supermoon is a full moon or new moon that’s within 90% of its closest approach to Earth.
Its closest point to the planet is called ‘perigee’, 356,445km away, with the technical name for a supermoon being ‘perigee-syzygy’. Anytime the moon is less than 360,000km away from Earth, it’s considered ‘super’ and, on Friday, the Super Beaver Moon will reach 361,866km away.
When is the best to see the supermoon?
A full moon always appears brightest after moonrise and before moonset. Why does this happen? Well, it is called the ‘Moon illusion’, when the moon is closest to the horizon. No one is completely sure why – theories include atmospheric refraction and its relative size – but the moon always appears bigger at this time than when it’s high in the sky.
So to get the best view of the supermoon, you may want to avoid areas in the city densely populated by buildings for a clear view of the horizon. According to Time and Date, moonrise will occur at 15:30pm this Friday, before setting at 08:25am on Saturday. Unfortunately, both of these occur wrong side of sunrise and sunset, meaning the sunlight could mute the moon’s light.
The peak of the supermoon will happen at 9.25pm, however, so it’s still going to look bright and beautiful throughout the night regardless. Better still, the Leonid meteor shower will peak on Monday, November 18, with up to 10 meteors per hour – but you may catch an early glimpse with your eyes glued to the sky.