Supermoon plus eclipse equals rare sky show Sunday night Cape Canaveral, Florida: Get ready for a rare double feature this weekend, starring our very own moon. A total lunar eclipse will share the stage with a so-called supermoon on Sunday night or early Monday, depending where you are. That combination hasn’t been seen since 1982 and won’t happen again until 2033. When a full or new moon makes its closest approach to Earth, that’s a supermoon. Although still about 220,000 miles away, this full moon will look bigger and brighter than usual. In fact, it will be the closest full moon of the year, about 30,000 miles closer than the average distance. (The moon’s orbit is far from a perfect circle.) Nasa planetary scientist Noah Petro is hoping the celestial event will ignite more interest in the moon. He is deputy project for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, which has been studying the moon from lunar orbit since 2009. “The moon’s a dynamic place,” Petro said...
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