Supermoon 2022: it’s tonight! At what time, how to observe it?

SUPER MOON. The last Super Moon of the year 2022 takes place on the night of Thursday to Friday August 12. When is the best time to observe it? Here is all the practical information to know everything about the astronomical phenomenon and its effects.

[Mis à jour le 11 août 2022 à 19h25] Last chance of 2022 to observe a Super Moon ! This Friday, August 12, you have a date with the Super Moon, it’s even the last chance of the year for Moon observation enthusiasts since the third and last Super Moon of the year will occur this Friday. August 12, period during which it is also possible to observe the celestial spectacle of the shooting stars of the Perseids.

In the night sky, the Moon will appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than usual during the “perigee-syzygy” phenomenon, when the full moon is at the point of its orbit closest to Earth. See you at 3 am to see it at best! The sky being particularly clear in France in August, its observation will be greatly facilitated and the best photographers will have the chance to capture the star in their lens, sometimes creating astonishing optical effects! At what time and how to observe the Super Moon? How far is it from Earth? Why is it a Super Moon and what is the origin of its name? What are its effects ? All the answers to your questions below:

The next Supermoon will be the last of the year 2022, dated Friday, August 12. The Moon will be “Super” exactly at 3:36 a.m.

The phenomenon baptized “Super Moon” by astrologer Richard Nolle, but which scientists prefer to call “phenomenon of perigee-syzygy”, takes place when the point of the lunar orbit is at a minimum distance from the Earth. When is the Moon closest to the Earth? When located at a distance of less than 360,000 km (the average distance between the Earth and the Moon is 384,400 km) according to the Paris Observatory. This Wednesday, August 10, the full moon will be at 359,828. kilometers from earthaccording to the Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculation (IMCCE).

The Super Moon is only really observable after sunset, with the naked eye, using binoculars or telescopes. In order to observe a Super Moon in optimal conditions, it is necessary to equip yourself with astronomical glasses or a telescope, far from atmospheric pollution, or go to one of the clubs of the French Association of Astronomy (AFA). See the map.

In astronomy, this event is called “perigee-syzygia”, the name of Super Moon having nothing scientific, since it is an invention of the astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979. “A Super moon occurs when the full moon coincides with when the Moon comes closest to Earth in its elliptical orbit, a point called perigee,” explains the NASA website.

By Super Moon, we therefore mean a celestial phenomenon which is due to two elements: the only satellite of the Earth passing closer to us on a full moon night.

A Super Moon appears slightly brighter and larger than a Full Moon, simply because it appears at perigee, at its closest orbit point to Earth, less than 360,000 km away.

Due to the proximity of the full moon with our planet Earth, its effects have an even stronger impact on tides, mood and sleep. Indeed, as explained by a Swiss scientific study carried out in 2013 published in the journal Current Biology, “a lunar rhythm can modulate the structure of sleep in humans”. This means that the time to fall asleep is extended by 5 minutes, deep sleep is reduced by 30% and the duration of sleep by 20 minutes. Consequently, the level of melatonin, a hormone secreted during our sleep, which has a role to play in mood, is lower, which can cause irritability or even depression.

If lunar eclipses can occur several times a year, the conjunction of the two phenomena (Super Moon and total eclipse) is rare and gives rise to what is called a blood moon. Several centuries ago, “blood moons” were perceived as the announcement of great catastrophes. Today, we know that this color is due to the projection of light from the Sun. During the lunar eclipse, it is possible to “see the reflections on the lunar surface of all sunrises and sunsets on Earth”, a phenomenon which results from “a rare alignment of these three astronomical cycles”, a Professor Jason Aufdenberg of Embry-Riddle Aeronautics University in Florida pointed out to Point.

If a supermoon is announced as a blue supermoon, it has nothing to do with its color. It is so called because it is the second full moon of a calendar month. A fact that only happens every 19 years. The last Super Blue Moon was on January 31, 2018. The conjunction of the phenomena, super blue moon and super blood moon, had not occurred since March 31, 1866 and the next one will not take place before January 31, 2037. The use of the term “blue” would result from a blunder in an article in the American magazine of amateur astronomy Sky and Telescope, in 1946. The article in question was titled “Once in a Blue Moon” and was written by journalist James Hugh Pruett who misinterpreted the Maine Farmers’ Almanac of 1937. And so this confusing expression has gone around the world in no time…! Every two to three years, the year includes 13 full moons instead of 12. The super blue moon is therefore associated with the number 13. Beliefs from the Middle Ages associate these years with 13 full moons with natural disasters, but gardeners rather evoke particularly rainy years not conducive to harvests.

The expression “Super Moon of the century” is to be taken with a grain of salt. The last time our satellite approached so close to the earth was in 1948. On November 14, 2016, the Moon had never been so big since 1948. NASA, who spoke of “super extra Moon”, announced one of the “most impressive lunar appearances of the century”. But if you were expecting to see a gigantic Moon, you may have been disappointed. “This full moon [était] actually closest to Earth for the year 2016 […]but its change in apparent diameter [n’était] absolutely not obvious to perceive with the naked eye”, explained then the scientific author Guillaume Cannat in his blog Around the sky. The notion of “Super Moon” was invented by an astrologer some forty years ago, and clumsily used by the NASA press service”, he continued. Although the phenomenon is quite exceptional, Guillaume Cannat then warned us about the “exceptional” nature of his observation.

Mark the date of the next Super Moon in your calendar: Wednesday August 10, 2022, scheduled at 7:08 p.m.. The next Super Blue Blood Moon will not recur until January 31, 2037.