'Supermoon' to grace Vietnam tonight

By Nhu Quynh   August 1, 2023 | 02:35 am PT
'Supermoon' to grace Vietnam tonight
A supermoon as seen in July from Vietnam. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy
Vietnam will be able to observe two "supermoons" this month, one on August 1-2 and the other on August 31.

Dang Vu Tuan Son, head of the Vietnam Astronomy and Cosmology Association, said the "supermoons" appear bigger and brighter due to their closer proximity to the Earth than usual.

The first supermoon will occur the night of August 1 or in the early morning August 2, when the Moon will be only 357,344 km away from the Earth. The usual Earth-Moon distance is around 384,400 km.

The second supermoon will occur on August 31, when the Moon will be about 357,344 km away from the Earth. The phenomenon is also called a "Blue Moon."

Son said that as the Moon's orbit around the Earth takes an elliptical shape, there are times when it is closer to Earth than other times. Thus, the "supermoon."

"On nights like that, we see the full moon getting a bit bigger and brighter, about 15% more so than usual," said Son.

In Vietnam, the phenomenon can be seen with the naked eye.

This year, supermoons will appear four times in July, August and September. The last supermoon of 2023 will be on September 28, when the moon will be just 361,552 km away from Earth. There will be only two supermoons next year, one on September 18 and the other on October 18.

 
 
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