Biggest super moon in years lights up skies

Third consecutive month that the super moon has appeared, but the distance is minimum in November, said Jawed

KARACHI: Students of the first year of the Institute of Space and Planetary Astrophysics (ISPA), University of Karachi (KU) waited hours to see a 25-time magnified super moon through a telescope at their institute on Monday.

Kanwal Shamim and her friends, who had exams in the morning, were excited to witness the once-in-a-lifetime experience of being able to observe the super moon.

"The distance of the super moon from Earth ranges from 356,400 kilometres to 370,400kms, while today [Tuesday] the moon is only 356,511kms away from the Earth," ISPA director Prof Dr Muhammad Jawed told The Express Tribune.

The super moon is at the minimum distance that is why it can be observed 14% larger and 30% brighter than the regular super moon, said Jawed.

This is the third consecutive month that the super moon has appeared, but the distance is at its minimum in November, he said, adding that people can also observe the super moon in December but the distance will not be the same.

The last time a super moon was seen at this distance was on January 25, 1948, and it is predicted to be seen next on November 25, 2034, said Met office regional director Abdul Rasheed.

Commenting on the high tides at sea, Jawed said that super moon will affect the tide but it will not be too high for want of high temperature. "Tides would be higher if the super moon fell in summers," informed Dr Jawed.

A lecturer at the institute, Fayyazur Rehman, who was setting up a telescope for the students to observe the super moon better, said the only reason to set up the telescope was to have a closer look at the moon.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2016.