The last opportunity to observe the supermoon in 2025 will be on Thursday (4), when the moon will reach its closest point to Earth, and therefore appear larger and brighter. This week, the natural satellite reaches a distance of 357 thousand kilometers from our planet.
To appreciate the supermoon, you don’t need any equipment, but being in places free of light pollution (artificial lights) helps. Clear skies also favor observation.
Josina Oliveira do Nascimento, director of the Department of Scientific Communication and Publication (DICOP) at the National Observatory, says that the hour after sunrise or sunset is the best period to observe the supermoon. At these moments, the satellite is close to the horizon, which will give the impression that it is larger, but it is actually free of the phenomena occurring in the region.
Supermoon is not a scientific term, according to the National Observatory. The word was used in 1979 by Richard Noll, who classified the event as a full moon that occurs during perigee—when the satellite is approximately at its closest orbital point to Earth—or at a distance equivalent to 90% of it. However, choosing the percentage did not take scientific standards into account.
This year, there were two more supermoons. In the first, which occurred on October 7, the Moon was 361,000 kilometers from Earth; On Monday, November 5, with a distance of 356 thousand kilometers.