Look up tonight --- It's a "SuperMoon", named in 1979 by astrologer Richard Nolle, is what you call a full moon when it is as close as it ever gets to Earth. Today --- your moon is "only" about 221,000 miles from Earth! (That's 17,000 miles closer than average). And it really is bigger and brighter than your average, run-of-the-orbit full moon. NASA scientists have measured the size and brightness, and say it's 14 per cent larger and 30 per cent brighter.
Naming full moons isn’t anything new. Native Americans named the months after nature’s cues. According to the Old Farmers' Almanac, each full moon has its own name. This particular moon is called the “Snow Moon.” The tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon," the almanac said. "Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred."
Dr. Carolyn Sumners of Houston’s Burke Baker Planetarium says your attitude toward the wonder helps make it super as well. “What makes you feel the moon is bigger is that we have told you to go out and see it. And when you do that – you tend to go out at moonrise – which is sunset. That’s when a full moon looks bigger anyway!” Dr. Sumners suggests you take your family and friends to go stand in the middle of your street to see it this evening.Make sure you bring someone over 60 – so they can tell everyone about when they were young and watched the Apollo Moon Landing on TV.