RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — While a full moon happens every month, if you look closely, the August full moon Monday night might look a little different.
We have to start this conversation with the Moon's orbit around the Earth. The orbit isn't actually a perfect circle so there are times when the Moon is slightly closer to the Earth. When that happens, it's called Perigee. Perigee this month occurs Wednesday, August 21st.
That brings us to Monday night's full Moon; it's full when it's almost at its closest point to Earth, which makes it a supermoon. This supermoon will only look a little bigger, about seven percent, but it will be about 30 percent brighter.
The August supermoon is actually the first of four in a row. In addition to Monday night's supermoon, September, October and November's full moons will all be slightly larger and brighter as they will all occur near the closest point to Earth.
Have realistic expectations as supermoons only appear slightly larger than normal, but even a slightly larger full moon is still cool to see and fortunately, we have three more chances after tonight.