Super moon is not the world’s newest super hero. Rather, it’s a super-huge, full moon — the biggest one we’ll see this year — coming to a sky near you on Saturday, May 5th.
So-called “super moons” occur when a full moon happens at the same time the moon is nearest the Earth, called the moon’s perigee. The moon’s orbit is an ellipse, not a circle, which means sometimes the moon is very “near” the Earth (an average of 226,000 miles away), and sometimes it’s father away. The distance between the Earth and the moon can vary by as much as 25,000 miles. That may not sound like much, but that’s about the circumference of the Earth at its equator.
The best time to see a “super moon” is when the moon is rising or setting, and it silhouettes buildings, trees or other objects. It might be worth postponing bedtime or waking up early for such a site. You can find out when the moon rises and sets in your area, here.
Space.com is encouraging people to share “super moon” stories and photos by contacting Managing Editor Tariq Malik: tmalik@space.com.
To learn more about Earth’s moon, see NASA’s kids page on the subject….here.
Kirsten W. Larson 
Yippee! This is soooo cool! We will be out waiting, already marked time on calendar (thanks for the link!) – maybe we can even get some friends to join us!
I can’t think of a better excuse for a party! Have fun.
How cool. Thanks for sharing. I’ll be sure to tell Mike to go Moon watching Saturday night. I know it’ll be extra special up in the mountains.
Enjoy your time away. I know you deserve it!
Cool, thanks for the heads up! I’ll definitely look for supermoon with my boys this weekend. 🙂
It’s a fun excuse to learn about our nearest neighbor.
Very cool! And the word perigee makes me think of Bedknobs and Broomsticks! 🙂
Oh, I love that movie. I need to remember it for when my boys are a bit older.
Yay for super moon. And there are so many great picture books about the moon. It’d be fun to read a few and then go moon watching!
We are going to read Melissa Stewart’s “Why Does the Moon Change Shape.” Maybe we can hope “Moon Pie” is out for the next super moon.