The world is witnessing the first Full Moon of 2020 this weekend - with the best views expected on Sunday.
As per NASA, the full moon will appear for nearly three days, from Friday to Monday, with Supermoon sight expected on Sunday.
While most people are aware of the full moon phenomenon, the term Supermoon could be new to many people.
So, let's understand what is a Supermoon and how it is different from a full moon.
A full moon occurs when the moon lines up on the opposite side of earth from the sun. On a full moon night, the moon is visible in its complete form, or fully illuminated from the earth.
The Supermoon phenomenon is almost similar to the full moon phenomenon, with a slight difference.
The moon never orbits earth in a perfect circle. Instead, it travels in an ellipse which brings it closer to and farther to earth.
In scientific terms, the farthest point in during the ellipse is known as apogee, while the closest point is known as perigee.
A Supermoon only occurs when the moon occurs at or near the perigee.
The moon looks slightly larger and brighter than a typical full moon on this day - that's what the term "supermoon" refers to.
When will be the Supermoon visible in India?
According to NASA, the Supermoon will appear on February 9 at 2:33am EST. The data provided by Norwegian site TimeandDate.com indicates that the full moon phase will occur at 1:03pm IST on Sunday. This means that the first supermoon of 2020 will only appear partially for stargazers in India sometime in the evening.
