In a year that has been marked by celestial spectacles such as meteor showers, comet sightings and solar eclipses, astronomy fans will have the opportunity to appreciate, on Friday night, the fourth and final supermoon from 2024confirmed the Caribbean Astronomy Society (SAC).
Although the supermoon will be visible throughout the night, the president of scientific dissemination of the SAC, Eddie Irizarry Robleshe specified The New Day that The best time to appreciate it will be between 5:37 pm and 6:30 pm To do this, they must direct their gaze toward the sky in the east direction. He noted that, during that period, the satellite is still rising above the horizon, making its sighting more impressive.
The average distance from the Moon to Earth is 239,000 miles. However, this time, the natural satellite will be located 224,000 miles away. The fact that the Moon is about 15,000 miles closer makes it appear brighter and larger.
In fact, Irizarry Robles indicated that the star can be observed 14% larger and between 25% to 30% brighter.
This supermoon is listed as the fourth, since one was spotted in August and September. Meanwhile, October’s supermoon was the closest of the year, as the satellite came within about 222,055 miles of Earth.
However, this phenomenon will not be the only sighting that will take place in the sky this Friday. According to the scientific communicator, if people look towards the west they will notice a bright trail.
1 / 13 | An astronomical spectacle: this is how the supermoon was seen around the world. This is how the astronomical phenomenon was seen during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Qiqihar, a province of China. – The Associated Press
“From 6:15 pm to 8:00 pm an extremely bright planet is being seen in the west. It is about Venus”reported Irizarry Robles.
“One of the reasons why it looks so bright is that it is the closest planet to us. It is also extremely reflective due to the dense atmosphere it has. That causes it to attract a lot of attention and look so resplendent,” he explained.
Although this will be the last supermoon of the year, in 2025, three of these events are expected starting in October.