If you noticed the Moon seemed a little bit bigger and brighter last night, you are not alone.<\/p>\n
Last night was a full moon, but it was also classed as what is called a supermoon, meaning it looked a little more spectacular than usual.<\/p>\n
The celestial phenomenon had photographers out in droves around the globe, taking advantage of the “Moon illusion” to produce some stunning images.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here is a wrap of some of the photos from around the world \u2014 and why the Moon is still worth looking at tonight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Around Australia<\/p>\n
In Australia, residents in Queensland and Victoria stopped to watch and photograph the rising Moon, with onlookers describing the view as striking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The supermoon as it rises in Selby in Victoria on Tuesday night. (Supplied: Kathie Thomas)<\/p>\n
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The harvest moon over the Darling Downs in Queensland. (Supplied: Noreen Window)<\/p>\n
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The harvest moon, pictured over Benalla at about 8pm.\u00a0 (Supplied: Rene Martens)<\/p>\n
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The supermoon lighting up Port Melbourne in Victoria. (Supplied: Roger Tall)<\/p>\n
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The Moon peers between the trees in Brisbane. (Supplied: Doug O’Neill)<\/p>\n
Around the world<\/p>\n
A passenger plane was captured passing in front of the Moon as it flew above London in the UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Divers watched the Moon rise after sunset off Malta in the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n
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The Moon peeks from behind London’s Tower Bridge. (AP: Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n
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The view from Fort Saint Angelo in Grand Harbour in Malta.\u00a0 (Reuters: Darrin Zammit Lupi)<\/p>\n
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Divers watch the sunset off Mellieha, Malta.\u00a0 (Reuters: Darrin Zammit Lupi)<\/p>\n
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The Moon behind a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip. (AP: Jehad Alshrafi)<\/p>\n
As night fell in North America, the Moon rose behind the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn skyline.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And it lit up the dome of the Capitol Building during the sixth day of a shutdown of the US government.<\/p>\n
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The harvest supermoon captured in New York.\u00a0 (AP: Adam Gray)<\/p>\n
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The Mario Cuomo Bridge spanning the Hudson River. (Reuters: Mike Segar\u00a0)<\/p>\n
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The view from Washington. \u00a0 (Reuters: Kent Nishimura)<\/p>\n
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The Moon above lower Manhattan, as seen from Jersey City.<\/p>\n
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What is a supermoon?<\/p>\n
“Supermoon”\u00a0is not a technical term.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It’s just a nickname for when\u00a0there’s a full moon at the same time as it is closest to Earth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Moon does not orbit Earth in a perfect circle,\u00a0so there are times when it is closer and times when it is further away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Moon itself does not change size, but because when is closer to Earth, it looks bigger and brighter to us Earthlings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Can I see the supermoon tonight?<\/p>\n
Technically, it will not be a supermoon because it will not be a full moon but, because it will still be closer to Earth, the Moon will still look pretty spectacular if you look up tonight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Look up at the eastern horizon just after sunset if you want to experience what is called the “moon illusion”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That is when the Moon looks bigger when it is near the horizon.<\/p>\n
How to see this year’s ‘supermoon festival’<\/a><\/p>\n Our skies will be graced by up to four supermoons in a row over the next months.<\/p>\n Photographers can simulate this illusion by using a long lens and including things like mountains or buildings in the frame to produce images like the ones above.\u00a0<\/p>\n This makes the Moon look especially giant. But that is just an illusion, as the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) explains on its website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Those images are created by zooming in on distant objects near the ground,” NASA says.\u00a0<\/p>\n “In other words, the Moon looks bigger in those photos because it’s a zoomed-in view.”<\/p>\n Why did the Moon look orange?<\/p>\n If you were watching the Moon at sunset, you might have noticed it looked a bit more orange than it did when it was higher in the sky.<\/p>\n “This happens because the Moon’s light travels a longer distance through the atmosphere,” NASA explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n “As it travels a longer path, more of the shorter, bluer wavelengths of light are scattered away, leaving more of the longer, redder wavelengths.”<\/p>\n And if there’s haze or bushfire smoke hanging around in the local atmosphere, this can deepen that reddish glow.\u00a0<\/p>\n Moonrise over Woody Point in Queensland. (Supplied: Peter Everett)<\/p>\n Why was it called a ‘harvest moon’?<\/p>\n That is just a northern-hemisphere-centric nickname for the full moon in October. It is not an official, scientific term.\u00a0<\/p>\n Different cultural groups in different parts of the world have their own names for full moons at certain times of the year, but many people go with the names used by a US publication called The Old Farmer’s Almanac.<\/p>\n That is the publication the names for other full moons, like like the sturgeon moon<\/a> or the hunter’s moon<\/a>, can usually traced back to.<\/p>\n The annual magazine has been in print since 1792 and is something of a cultural institution in the US.<\/p>\n “The Moon names we use in The Old Farmer’s Almanac come from Native American, colonial American, or other traditional North American sources passed down through generations,” the publication’s website says<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, the magazine has its sceptics like University of Southern Queensland astronomer Jonti Horner, who says it has “butchered” traditional beliefs<\/a> and raised concerns about cultural appropriation.<\/p>\n In any case, the term “harvest moon” is a reference to the seasonal weather in some northern hemisphere countries at a time when some crops are harvested, so it does not have much relevance to the conditions here in Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n A whitish version of the Moon over Pasadena in California. (Reuters: Mario Anzuoni)<\/p>\n When is the next super moon?<\/p>\n Last night was the first supermoon of the year but, if you missed out, you will not to have to wait long for the next one.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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