Witness the largest and brightest 'supermoon' on Monday!

Image for representational purpose only

New York: Have you ever seen a biggest and brightest moon? Well, now prepare yourself to witness the brightest and closest full moon of the year on Monday, November 14, 2016.

The upcoming 'supermoon' will be extra super as it will be the closest the moon to Earth since 1948 and it won't happen again for another 18 years.

As per NASA, the moon's orbit around Earth is slightly elliptical so sometimes it is closer and sometimes it is farther away. When the moon is full as it makes its closest pass to Earth it is known as a supermoon.

At perigree - the point at which the moon is closest to Earth - the moon can be as much as 14 per cent closer to Earth than at apogee -- when the moon is farthest from our planet.

On Monday, the moon will be at perigee just after dusk in India.

The full moon appears that much larger in diameter and because it is larger, it shines 30 per cent more moonlight onto the Earth.

Noah Petro, deputy project scientist for NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission said, "The difference in distance from one night to the next will be very subtle. Any time after sunset should be fine. Since the moon is full, it'll rise at nearly the same time as sunset. You don't have to stay up all night to see it, unless you really want to!".

This is actually the second of three supermoons in a row, so if the clouds do not cooperate for you this weekend, you will have another chance next month to see the last supermoon of 2016 on December 14.

(With IANS inputs)