A Supermoon will illuminate the Qatar sky today, Qatar Calendar House (QCH) has said.
This full moon will be different from others as it will be bigger and brighter, hence called a Supermoon, a statement from QCH said.
This is the first Supermoon of 2020, according to information available online.
The Supermoon phenomenon occurs when the moon is in its full moon phase and, at the same time, is at the nearest point in its orbit around the earth (perigee). The moon will be approximately 361,000km from the earth’s centre and it will appear 14% bigger than a normal full moon, QCH astronomy expert Dr Beshir Marzouk points out.
Also, its illumination will be 30% brighter than the normal full moon’s, he adds.
People in Qatar will have a good chance to observe the Supermoon phenomenon and will not require astronomical telescopes to do so. They can see the Supermoon with the naked eye from the moon’s rising time on the eastern horizon today until its setting times on the western horizon the next day. In Qatar, the moon will today rise at 5.36pm and set at 6.18am tomorrow, the statement informs.
A Supermoon occurred on February 19 last year and will take place again in March and April this year.
The phenomenon is “very important for amateurs and astronomers because it’s the best time to see the fine structure of the moon’s surface. Moreover, it validates astronomical calculations”, the statement adds.
