So, is that a Supermoon or a Moon Phase Calendar?
It’s both!
I have never been a fan of this supermoon idea. But I acknowledge that it is a great way to generate interest in the sky – and that is super!
On Wednesday February 20, 2019 there is a Supermoon – as defined by Richard Nolle. In fact, it’s the superest moon for 2019. Why? Well, a Full Moon occurs at 02:53am EADT on Feb 20 and it is the closest, and therefore appears the largest, Full Moon for the year at 356843-km. And the Moon is actually closest to the Earth, or at perigee, the previous evening on February 19 at 20:03pm EADT when it is just 356760-km from Earth. There being only about 7-hours between lunar perigee and Full Moon this is a Supermoon.
Whether or not you can detect if this Full Moon is any larger or smaller than any other is doubtful. But do take a look at the Moon before you turn in for the night – it’s a super-beautiful sight!
The Sydney Observatory Moon Phase Calendar returns
If you want to find out when the next Full, New or any other Moon occurs then head to our new Moon Phase Calendar.
This is one of our most popular pages and we received many queries last year when it stopped working. Something technical in the computer went wrong – even a PhD in astrophysics didn’t help me understand it! But now it’s back – our digital team got to work and they’ve made it even better than before.
On our new Moon Phase Calendar you will see the present phase plus phases for the rest of the month and the following month. You can select any day many years into the future then jump straight back to today’s phase. It will also let you know when the next total lunar and solar eclipses will be, although they aren’t always visible from Australia.
We haven’t included rise and set times, as these change so much depending on your location. But remember that, as a rule of thumb, during waxing phases the moon is up during the first half of the night, near full phase it is up all night, and during waning phases it is up during the second half of the night.
We’ve tried to make the new Moon Phase Calendar more functional than the previous one but not overwhelming.
We hope you like it and find it useful – let us know what you think.
