The year\u2019s fourth and final supermoon arrives Thursday night, giving skywatchers a luminous view as it nears Earth at roughly 225,000 miles. Though it won\u2019t reach its full phase until Friday, this supermoon is the last chance this year to catch the celestial event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why It Matters:<\/strong> Supermoons provide a striking view of the moon, appearing bigger and up to 30% brighter. This phenomenon draws attention not only to the moon\u2019s natural beauty but to humanity\u2019s renewed focus on lunar exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\udf20 What\u2019s Happening:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 The supermoon follows the Taurid meteor shower\u2019s peak and will precede the active Leonid meteor display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 While last month\u2019s supermoon was closer, Thursday\u2019s will be the year\u2019s final, making this a limited chance for enthusiasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\udf0d Catch Up Quick:<\/strong> A \u201csupermoon\u201d is not a scientific term but describes a full moon coinciding with its closest orbit to Earth. The closer the moon is, the larger and brighter it appears, though most viewers see only a slight change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Earlier this Year:<\/strong> The August supermoon was 224,917 miles away, with September\u2019s coming in closer at 222,131 miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\udd2d The Big Picture:<\/strong> Supermoons heighten public interest in the moon, especially as the U.S. and international space agencies ramp up lunar missions. With plans for new landers and astronauts on the horizon, the final supermoon of 2023 is a timely reminder of what awaits beyond our atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark your calendar for Thursday evening; the next series of supermoons won\u2019t begin until October 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The year\u2019s fourth and final supermoon arrives Thursday night, giving skywatchers a luminous view as it nears Earth at roughly 225,000 miles. Though it won\u2019t reach its full phase until Friday, this supermoon is the last chance this year to catch the celestial event. Why It Matters: Supermoons provide a striking view of the moon, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":948,"featured_media":209915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15491],"tags":[16460,16459],"class_list":["post-209914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-talk-of-the-town","tag-moon","tag-super-moon","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/948"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=209914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=209914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=209914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=209914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}