Biggest full moon of the year to debut Saturday
Posted March 19, 2011 2:16 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The largest full moon of the year will make debuted on Saturday, treating Toronto residents to a view that is 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than normal.
“I was in the car with my dad and I saw the Supermoon. I told my dad to stop the car and let me take a picture of the moon,” Garrett Joy wrote in an email to CityNews.ca.
“I’m 11 now and I will be 29 when I see it next,” he added.
The so-called ‘SuperMoon’ occurs because the moon is exceptionally close to Earth, a mere 355,000 kilometres away. It hasn’t been this close since 1993.
The moon’s position should make high tides slightly higher, and low tides slightly lower, but a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist stressed it would not trigger any natural disasters.
In December, sky-watchers were treated to a rare lunar eclipse.
It occurred on the same night as the winter solstice, which doesn’t happen very often. NASA says the last time the two events coincided was in 1638 – 372 years ago.
With files from The Canadian Press.