The sky was illuminated last night by the first “Supermoon” of the year, the largest and brightest view of the Moon as it reached its closest point to the Earth, resulting in some stunning images of the phenomenon from stargazers.
The spectacle was seen all over the globe as the Moon slowly rose last night, 15 per cent larger and 30 per cent brighter than when it is at its smallest and dimmest.
Supermoons or “perigee-syzygy”, their astronomical title, occur when the moon is simultaneously at its closest possible point to the Earth as it orbits its elliptical (lemon-shaped) route and when it is also directly opposite the Sun, meaning it is fully illuminated.
Stargazers from around the globe came out in full force to witness the phenomenon and have taken pictures of the spectacular Supermoon. On Twitter and Instagram the hashtag #supermoon2015 was trending as people shared their images from around the world.
Here are the 11 best images taken of the Supermoon last night:
1)
Supermoon rising over Englewood, Colorado, taken by Alisha Aspeland.
2)
A shot of a blood-red Supermoon rising over Kiev.
3)
Kara Tinson posted this image of the Supermoon on Instagram rising over the sea.
4)
A view of the Supermoon from Aurora, Colorado.
5)
The Supermoon rising over San Francisco, California taken by landscape photographer Nam Ing.
6)
#SuperMoon2015 29.August.2015 What a beauty .. 30% bigger and 15% brighter then the regular moon pic.twitter.com/9dRy0TbVR6
— ~ Sparkle ~ (@HinnaRx) August 29, 2015
7)
Tonight's #Supermoon with a 92mm telescope and a Canon 70D. http://t.co/gOs3zBixTn #universetoday #supermoon2015 pic.twitter.com/ZjMfgBqmpW
— Joel Tonyan (@joeltonyan) August 30, 2015
8)
The moon was huuugggeee last night!!!! #supermoon2015 pic.twitter.com/zMCZUlTGSf
— Alex Mac (@alexmac06) August 30, 201
A view of the moon from Chorley, Lancashire.
9)
Luna llena, hace unos minutos desde Peñalolen, Santiago de Chile. #LunaLlena #Supermoon2015 @MARTYTABILO1 pic.twitter.com/w85UTj71EA
— Alberto Sironvalle (@alb0black) March 5, 2015
10)
Tonight's full moon from Virginia Beach, Va. #Supermoon #supermoon2015 pic.twitter.com/0AVHbFmGv1
— David Sullivan (@ciophoto) August 30, 2015
11)
The Supermoon seen near Essen, Germany.
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The next event of this kind is expected on the 28 September and will be followed by a lunar eclipse. It is expected to be even closer than last night’s Supermoon.
