On the night of December 3rd, we will be able to watch the last supermoon of the year.

A supermoon occurs when the Moon make its closest approach to Earth (almost 220,000 miles away).

As we know, Moon’s orbit around the Earth is not a circle but elongated, just like Earth’s orbit around the Sun. This means that the Moon changes its distance to Earth reaching the farthest point (apogee) and closest point (perigee) depending on the month.

Even it will the fourth supermoon of the year, this one will be the only one we will be able to see with the naked eye, because the other three were new moons (when lunar disk faces the Earth with its darkened side).

The good thing is there is no need for any instruments to enjoy the astronomical event. Even the difference can be spotted with the naked eye, we recommend to prepare your binoculars/telescopes for a better view of the lunar craters.

The closest approach to Earth will take place at 4:00AM ET (9:00 UT) on December 4th, at a distance of 222,443miles away from our planet. On the night of 3rd it will appear 7% larger and 16% brighter than usual.

“Through the overnight hours, the moon will sit within the bright constellation Taurus, the bull. By covering the lunar disk with your thumb, you can look for the nearby orange star Aldebaran, a stellar giant 65 light-years away that marks the eye of this mythical bovine.” -National Geographic

If you miss the change of seeing the supermoon in December, don’t worry, because one month later you will have two more opportunities to catch it again. The first full moon will be on January 2 and the second on January 31. Both will be supermoons.