Community Corner

Supermoon and Meteor Shower to Light up Sky Saturday

The moon will look almost 30 percent brighter and 14 percent bigger as it comes as close to the Earth as it will all year.

Look! Up in the sky…It’s Supermoon!

Yes, Supermoon. Saturday’s full moon will be the closest the moon passes by the earth all year, and it will appear as much as 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than other full moons of 2012, according to NASA. Additionally, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower will peak this weekend, with a show of ‘falling stars’ at the same time as the Supermoon.

The exact moment The Supermoon will appear its biggest and brightest is at 8:35 p.m. PST when the moon will be roughly 8,000 miles closer than usual  - just 221,802 miles away. The moon’s orbit around the Earth brings it as close as 221,567 miles away at perigee and as far as 252,000 miles at apogee.

Find out what's happening in Los Alamitos-Seal Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The National Weather Service is forecasting patchy fog and overcast skies for Saturday night, which could mean that the the Supermoon and falling stars will be obscured in the Los Alamitos and Seal Beach areas. However, the same forecast was predicted for Friday night, and the sky was largely clear at 8:30 p.m.

But not too much further inland, the Weather Service is calling for clear skies. The weather service is predicting mostly clear skies a little inland in Riverside County and perfectly clear skies in the desert areas such as Palm Springs and Joshua Tree for stargazers looking to take a road trip. A little closer to home, the weather service is forecasting mostly clear skies in Los Angeles, and Huffington Post lists the Griffith Observatory as one of the top places to watch the show.

Find out what's happening in Los Alamitos-Seal Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

If you know of any great stargazing tips, share them in the comments. If you snap any great shots of the supermoon or meteor shower, you can share them, too by uploading them to this story.


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