The fourth and last supermoon of the year, the Sturgeon moon, will occur Thursday.
Named after the fish, the Sturgeon moon will coincide with the near peak of the Perseid meteor shower, which has been ongoing since July 14.
“Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers (50-100 meteors seen per hour),” according to NASA, and the bright moon could lessen their visibility.
But people will be in for a treat anyway.
Supermoons occur when a new or full moon is closest to Earth in its orbit, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, which notes that different publications have different definitions. By that definition though, this year’s supermoons occurred in May, June, July and now August.
Thursday’s supermoon will be 224,569.1 miles from Earth, while July’s was 222,089.3 miles from Earth, according to the almanac.
Supermoons look about 7% bigger, but the almanac explains it’s actually hard to tell when the moon looks any bigger. To truly catch a moon that looks larger, view it when it’s rising or setting.
Beside meteors, which NASA says could still be spotted even with the brightness of the moon, Saturn will also be seen. The Earth will fly between the planet and the sun Aug. 14, bringing Saturn into the Earth’s sky, according to Earthsky.org. The ringed planet will look like a large star Thursday.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
