South Africans can get ready to see an especially bright and large moon tonight, 9 March around 7:47pm. This will be the first of two consecutive supermoons and is also a worm moon (A worm moon is the first full moon in the month of March, when earthworms tend to emerge from the ground in the northern hemisphere as winter turns to spring).
According to Forbes, however, peak brightness occurs as perigee approaches a few hours after maximum fullness, closer to midnight in Europe and Africa.
A supermoon is when the moon is within 90% of its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit, says NASA, making the moon appear as much as 30% brighter and 14% larger than usual.
Here are some other supermoons captured from around the world:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8Xr8-ihZbn/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9frhhRlWRB/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9gOkmPBVAL/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvQiSnAlDWs/
The next and final super full moon is the Pink Moon, which falls on Wednesday, 8 April.
Image: Instagram/matias_dominguez_
