Super Moon sightings impress people in Türkiye

View from Turkish capital, Ankara

The moon orbits Earth in an ellipse, an oval that brings it closer to and farther from Earth as it goes around. 

View from Southeastern city of Türkiye, Gaziantep

The farthest point in this ellipse is called the apogee and is about 253,000 miles from Earth, on average.

View from Mediterrenean city of Türkiye, Hatay

Its closest point is the perigee, which is an average distance of about 226,000 miles from Earth.

View from Marmara region's city of Türkiye, Sakarya

When a full moon appears at perigee it is slightly brighter and larger than a regular full moon – and that's where we get a supermoon.

View from Eastern city of Türkiye, Van

On average, supermoons appear about 7% bigger and about 15% brighter than a typical full moon.

View from Türkiye's the biggest culture city, Istanbul

"Different publications use slightly different thresholds for deciding when a full moon is close enough to the Earth to qualify as a supermoon," NASA said.

"Because the orbit of the moon is not a perfect circle, the moon is sometimes closer to the Earth than at other times during its orbit," it added.

Text Source: USA Today

Picture Source: Anadolu Agency-Ihlas Agency