Tonight will be the last time stargazers can enjoy a supermoon for the year 2015.
In fact, if you miss tonight’s supermoon, you will not be able to see one again until October of 2016, almost a whole year away. A supermoon is when the moon is at its closest point to Earth in its monthly orbit, making it look bigger and brighter.
Science World Report states that this year’s lunar activity has been unusual due to us seeing three supermoons in a row. They also report it’s very unusual that last month’s supermoon happened to be at the same time as the full lunar eclipse.
Tonight’s supermoon will be the 6th supermoon of 2015.
An asteroid is going to blow past Earth tomorrow closer than the moon’s orbit.
The asteroid, named 2014 DX110, will pass within about 9/10th of the moon’s orbit at around 33,000 miles per hour. The Virtual Telescope Project is planning to provide live online coverage of the asteroid’s passing starting around 3:30 p.m. eastern time tomorrow.
The asteroid is believed to be the size of three double decker busses.
The asteroid is classified as a “Apollo class” asteroid, meaning that it passes through the Earth’s orbit. If the asteroid were to strike Earth, it would leave a crater up to 20 times its size.
If that were to happen, it would throw enough dust into the sky that it would darken the planets for years.
Almost six months after a previously record breaking asteroid strike on the moon, the moon has once against been hit with the biggest space rock it’s collided with in history.
NASA and other space scientists have released footage of the strike to the public after extensive analysis of the September 11, 2013 strike.
The meteor, which scientists estimate at 880 pounds and measured almost four and half feet wide, hit the moon at 37,900 miles per hour. The impact of the rock caused a crater around 130 feet wide and had the strength of 15 tons of TNT.
It was more than three times as powerful as the previous record set on March 17, 2013.
The strike also created a blast that could be seen on Earth with the naked eye. Also, where post strikes produce a flash that lasts a fraction of a second, the strike on September 11th lastest eight seconds. NASA said it was the longest lasting flash in recorded history.
