[ad_1]
A supermoon will be visible in our sky on Friday night. This will be the last supermoon of 2024. It is also called the “beaver moon”.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on Tuesday, November 12 that this year’s last supermoon, or Beaver Moon, will be seen on Friday, November 15 at 4:29 pm EST. The supermoon could be seen in India at 2:59 am on Saturday.
“This moon is extra special because it is the last supermoon of 2024, meaning the moon will appear bigger and brighter than usual,” NASA said.
What is ‘Supermoon’
NASA said the term “supermoon” was coined in 1979 and occurs when the full moon is closest to Earth.
The US space agency explained, “The Moon does not orbit in a perfect circle. Instead, the Moon orbits the Earth in an ellipse, an oval that brings it closer and further away from the Earth as it rotates around.”
It states that the farthest point of this ellipse is on average about 253,000 miles from Earth. Its closest point is perigee, which is an average of about 226,000 miles from Earth.
“The full moon can occur at any point on the moon’s elliptical path, but when the full moon is at or near perigee, it looks slightly larger and brighter than the ‘average’ full moon – which gives rise to the term ‘supermoon.’ Inspires,” NASA said.
Supermoons are not rare and occur as a regular part of the moon’s orbit around Earth, said Dennis Gallagher, a NASA research scientist. “The moon’s orbit revolves around Earth approximately once every 27 and a third of a day,” Gallagher said. “That time of closest approach to Earth, or perigee, occurs three or four times each year because of the movement of the Earth and the moon around the sun,” Gallagher said.
Why is it called the beaver moon?
The Beaver Moon is one of the nicknames for the November full moon. The term originates from various traditions and folklore in Native American and European culture.
One explanation is that November is the time when beavers prepare for winter by strengthening dams and storing their food supplies. November was also the season for trapping otters to shed their thick, winter-ready pelts to use for warm clothing.
[ad_2]
