Next Super Moon will light up the weekend sky!

CLEVELAND – The next Super Moon will light up this weekend’s night sky.

The summer of the Super Moon continues with the biggest, brightest full moon of the year happening this weekend.

The moon’s orbit around the Earth is not perfectly circular. Its farthest distance about 252,000 miles. While its closest distance to the Earth along its orbit is about 221,000 miles. If the full moon coincides with the moon’s closest approach to Earth, then the full moon appears bigger and brighter. This occurred in June and July of this year.

Well, this month’s full moon occurs during the moon’s closest approach to the Earth for the entire year! That means Sunday night’s full moon will be the biggest and brightest of 2014.

Super Moons happen usually once or twice a year, sometimes more. The moon can shine 20% to 30% brighter than a “normal” full moon and look 15-percent larger. This weekend’s moon will technically be at its fullest at 2:09 am on early Monday morning. Skies should be partly cloudy this weekend allowing most of us to see the Super Moon Sunday night.