A supermoon is caused by the full or new moon coinciding completely with perigee, the Moon's closest approach to the Earth. Astronomers say that the reason for that is an elliptical orbit in which the satellite revolves around our planet.

This phenomenon is manifested by the visually enlarged size of the lunar disk. The first supermoon of 2023 will take place in July. CBS News reported the details.

The moon is at a distance of 384,400 km from Earth. The supermoon is slightly closer, the distance will be about 361,933 km.

Astronomers say the July supermoon will be 16% brighter than the normal one. This summer phenomenon is sometimes called the "Thunder Moon" because summer thunderstorms and lightning suddenly erupt just after the active heat of midsummer.

The Moon will peak in less than 10 hours after its orbit is as close to Earth as possible. New moons or full moons, which occur when a satellite is within 90 percent of perigee, were first called "supermoons" by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979.

The July supermoon will be visible on July 2 and 3, and will peak on July 3, 2023 at 14:39 Kyiv time.

By the way, scientists have hypothesized that there are hundreds of millions of worlds in the Milky Way where life might exist.

Previously OBOZREVATEL told about a unique celestial phenomenon: what is the "Da Vinci Lights".

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