Almost a month after January’s supermoon lunar eclipse, another supermoon is set to appear.
On the morning of Feb. 19, the moon will be at perigee, meaning its closest orbit to Earth, according to NASA. The moon will be at perigee at 4:04 a.m., and will become a full moon at 10:54 a.m.
This month’s supermoon will be the biggest full moon of the year.
Typically 238,855 miles from Earth, the moon will be about 221,680 miles from Earth on Feb. 19, Space.com reported.
According to the site, supermoons don’t occur every month due to the changing orientation of the moon’s orbit as Earth rotates around the sun. But this year, three supermoons are set to appear three months in a row. On Jan. 21, the super blood wolf moon appeared and, after February, the next 2019 supermoon is set for March 21.
The March supermoon will be the farthest from Earth compared to the other two at about 224,170 miles, EarthSky reported.
Seven months after the February supermoon, the lunar apogee will occur, meaning the farthest full moon from Earth, EarthSky reported. This means the diameter of the February moon will be about 14 percent larger than the September moon, and will exceed it in brightness by about 30 percent.
According to the site, the next perigee will occur April 2020. Due to the moon’s phases, it takes about 413 days for it to orbit close to Earth. Just like this year, 2020 will have three supermoons in a row — March, April and May.
