Looking up at the night sky last Monday, it would have been incredibly difficult to miss the brilliant ball of luminescence centered in the middle, also referred to as the supermoon.

To bask in the glory of the great lunar light, the Astronomy Club hosted a viewing event Monday night for MSMS students interested in looking at the historic supermoon.

“A supermoon is when you have a full moon that also occurs when a moon is very near perigee. A perigee is the closest approach of earth to the moon in its orbit. It’s not perfectly circular, sometimes it’s closer and sometimes it’s farther away, that’s part of being an elliptical orbit. Now if it happens to be that you have a full moon when the moon is also near perigee, then it’s going to appear to be a little brighter and little bit larger that it would normally,” explained MSMS physics professor, Dr. Charles Vaughn.   

The Astronomy Club welcomed the students in front of Hooper Academic Building with binoculars to observe the striking spectacle that was the supermoon up close.

Junior Keegan Lindsay explained the significance of this specific supermoon.

“I think what’s important to know here is that last time the moon was this close was at some point in the 1950s and the next time it’s going to be this close is in 2038. So, for a lot of the students here who don’t really follow astronomy, this is really a once in a lifetime opportunity to view the moon in its highest detail to the naked eye as possible,” Lindsay said.