Stargazers on Tuesday, 19 February, were in for a celestial delight as the biggest and brightest supermoon of the year, also called the super snow moon, brightened up the night sky after 8:30 pm.
The super snow moon reached its peak at 10:54 am EST in the United States of America when it was visible to most in North America. The Eastern Time Zone encompasses part or all of 22 states in the eastern part of the US.
According to NASA, the Moon was closest to the Earth at 4:04 am EST (2:34 pm IST) and the full moon occurred at 10:54 am EST (9:24 pm IST) on 19 February, NDTV reported. Although in India, the moon wasn’t visible at its full since it happened during the day and the rain made the visibility worse, the full moon was reportedly visible in the country at around 9:24 pm IST.
The supermoon on Tuesday was full only six hours after it reached the perigee distance of its orbit, making it the brightest and largest full moon of the year, NASA said.
February's supermoon is being called a ‘Super Snow Moon’ as certain Native American tribes in the US called the second full moon of the winter so. It is because the month is associated with heavy snowfall.
Historically, bad weather and heavy snowfalls used to make hunting difficult, so the moon was also known as the Hunger Moon, NASA said.
Another supermoon also occurred in January with a slightly more distant perigee – 583 km farther away. But it included a total lunar eclipse visible in all of North and South America.
The third and last supermoon of the year will be on 19 March, when the perigee distance will be reached a day and five hours before the full moon, NASA said.
(With inputs from NDTV)
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