Super Moon Snow, the brightest moon of the year

Today we will have the brightest moon of the year, the Full Snow Supermoon. Moonrise will be the best time for those interested in capturing dramatic supermoon photos because the moon will be closest to the horizon. Today’s Supermoon marks a big difference from 2018, when there was no full moon in February -- called a Black Moon.

Image 1. Supermoon

What is a Supermoon?

The Supermoon is a full Moon that looks bigger than normal Moons. The reason is because the orbit of the Moon is a tilted eccentric ellipse (Image 2). Because of the eccentricity, there are 2 defining distances; one distance known as Apogee (when the moon is furthest from Earth), and one known as Perigee (when the moon is closes to Earth). The Supermoon occurs when the full Moon coincides with the Perigee.

Image 2. Orbit of the Moon

Why Snow moon?

Native Americans and Europeans used to give names to the full moons of different months based on the local characteristics of such month. For instance, February’s full moon used to be referred as Snow Moon because of the heavy snowfalls that occur in February in the northern hemisphere. The table summarizes the names of the Moon according to different months.

Month	Name	Note
January	Full Wolf Moon	Wolves tend to howl more at this time
February	Full Snow Moon	The heaviest snowfalls use to fall in february
March	Full Worm Moon	The ground softens and earthworm casts reappear
April	Full Pink Moon	The first spring flores begin to appear
May	Full Flower Moon	Flowers spring forth in abundance
June	Full Strawberry Moon	Is the time to gather ripening strawberries
July	Full Buck Moon	Buck's antlers are in full growth mode
August	Full Sturgeon Moon	The sturgeon of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain were most readily caught
September	Full Corn Moon	It is the time of harvesting corn
October	Full Hunter's Moon	The time when natives begin to hunt and store provisions for winter
November	Full Beaver Moon	It was the time to set beavers traps
December	Full Cold Moon	It is the time when the winter cold fastens its grip and the nights become long and dark