Mother Nature is preparing to offer a nice little treat to the hungover people of the world on the first day of 2018.
A beautiful supermoon will light up the sky on New Year’s Day and shine as a beacon of hope for all the people who over-celebrated the night before.
It’s called the wolf moon, because at this time of year hungry wolf packs would howl outside Native American villages during the chilly peak of winter, according to the Farmer’s Almanac.
The Wolf Moon is part of a ‘trilogy’ which started with December’s Cold Moon and will end on January 31st when a third supermoon will also feature a total lunar eclipse which could make the moon appear red.
‘The supermoons are a great opportunity for people to start looking at the Moon, not just that once but every chance they have,’ said Noah Petro, a research scientist from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
What is a supermoon?
A supermoon is a new or full moon that appears bigger to the human eye because it is the closest to the Earth during its orbit. It appears larger due to an optical illusion.
In general, the supermoon will appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the average moon.
The full moon that occurs at this time in the year is nicknamed the Frost Moon due to Native American traditions or the Moon Before Yule as it is the last full moon of the season.
More: UK
There will be another supermoon on January 31 which will also be a total lunar eclipse, and what is termed a Blue Moon as it is the second full moon in a month.
Astrologer Richard Nolle first defined the term supermoon in 1979 as he explained that the phenomenon ‘is a new or full moon which occurs with the moon at or near (within 90 per cent of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit’.
MORE: Supermoon brightens up night sky over Earth bigger and brighter than usual
MORE: In pictures: How the supermoon lit up the sky on Sunday
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