Skies will be bright and well lit on July 13 as the Earth is all set to witness a ‘supermoon’ on Wednesday, bringing the lunar body at the closest distance this year. At its closest, the Moon will be just 3,57,264 kilometres away from the planet. While the full Moon may appear for a couple of days, the completeness will be momentarily in reality.The supermoon could have tidal effects on the planet leading to a large range of high and low ocean tides. Astronomers expect that coastal storms at sea around this time could lead to aggravated coastal flooding.
A supermoon does not mean that the lunar object will have some special powers, instead, it means that it will appear a bit bigger than before and even a bit brighter than seen before.This phenomenon is due to the Moon coming close to Earth in its orbit, a position known as perigee. The term supermoon was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 and refers to either a new or full moon that occurs when the Moon is within 90% of perigee, its closest approach to Earth.With the Moon orbiting the Earth in an elliptical path, the farthest point in this ellipse is called the apogee and is about 4,05,500 kilometres from Earth on average.The Supermoon observed on July 13 will be the biggest of the year and is also known as the buck moon. According to timeanddate, the full moon is given the name buck moon due to antlers that emerge from a buck’s forehead around this time of the year.