Look up in the sky… it’s Supermoon

Cloudy skies last night blocked the view in Cebu of the onset of the supermoon, one of the biggest celestial events in this year’s astronomical calendar.

Oscar Tabada, chief of the state weather bureau’s Mactan-Cebu station, said that the supermoon is considered to be the closest encounter to Earth this year.

He earlier said the supermoon will be visible the entire weekend since last night.

Tabada said that the supermoon can be seen by the naked eye when the skies are clear.

Last night’s and tonight’s forecast will be “cloudy but not overcast skies”, Tabada said.

According to Guy Ottewell’s Astronomical Calendar 2013, this month’s full moon will last only 22 minutes after the moon reaches perigee, the moon’s closest point to Earth for this year.

The moon will set at perigee tonight at exactly 7:32 p.m. By then the moon will just be 356,991 kilometers away from Earth.

This year’s supermoon will appear to be 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the average full moon.

“For the whole year, this is the closest,” Tabada said.

While skywatchers will be able to spot another supermoon in July, the moon will not be this close again until August 2014.

When the moon is at its peak, tides are expected to be higher than the usual.

Yesterday, tide was recorded 1.8 meters higher around 9 a.m., said Tabada. Today, the tide will be 1.9 meters higher at 10 a.m. and will be 2.14 meters by 11 a.m. tomorrow.

The last supermoon was recorded from May 24 to 25.

A supermoon happens when the moon is slightly closer to Earth in its orbit than on average, and when it occurs at the same time as a full moon which makes the moon bigger despite its few percent difference in its distance from Earth.