Catch a rising moon: First of two August supermoons rising tonight
The first supermoon of the month makes an appearance Tuesday night over Northwest Highway in Palatine.
John Starks/Daily Herald
On Tuesday night the moon will be up close and personal.
That makes it a good time to head outside and look up at the sky to view the first of two supermoons appearing this month.
A supermoon occurs when a full moon is near its closest approach to Earth.
Michelle Nichols, director of public observing for the Adler Planetarium, said that although the full moon is tonight, the actual closest point of the moon to the Earth will be Wednesday.
A supermoon appears 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the farthest full moon of the year.
When watching a supermoon, Nichols said, some might have trouble noticing a difference in the moon’s size “because you don’t have anything else in the sky to compare it to.” However, she said, you can discern a difference in brightness.
Today’s supermoon is known as the Full Sturgeon Moon, named by Native Americans after the Great Lakes fish that was caught more easily at this time of year.
The second supermoon is scheduled to come around Aug. 30.
From the Chicago area, the Full Sturgeon Moon will rise at 8:43 p.m. Tuesday and set around 6:29 a.m. Wednesday.
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