Moon over Maine
A couple of days ago we had a "super moon"
A "supermoon" occurs
when the moon becomes full on the same day as its perigee, the point in the
moon's orbit when it is closest to Earth.
The term is borrowed from the
pseudoscience of astrology but has been adopted by popular culture and
astronomers. Supermoons generally appear to be 14% bigger and 30% brighter than
other full moons.
A month after the
mega-supermoon, another supermoon will rise on December 14.
It too will be a sight to
behold, but it'll also limit our opportunity to see something just as beautiful
-- a Geminid meteor shower.
The Geminid
meteor shower, an annual event, got its name because the meteors
look like they're coming from the constellation of Gemini.
But the supermoon's brighter
light will drastically reduce the number of meteors you'll be able to see.
NASA says we'll be lucky if
we see a dozen meteors in an hour at the shower's peak, when normally the
shower lights up the night sky with more than 100 meteors per hour.
CNN's Doug Criss and Holly Yan
contributed to this story.
