Astronomers say the brightest moon of the year will be visible throughout SoCal Wednesday night, reaching its peak Thursday before dawn.
A supermoon is called such to indicate when the moon is full, a little brighter than average, and closer to Earth than usual.
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The moon will be closest to Earth all year, Wednesday into Tuesday, at only 222-thousand miles away.
Griffith Observatory director Ed Krupp says the moon will look massive when it rises around sunset, but he tells KNX News it's just a neat illusion.
"If you were to measure the moon tonight when it's rising, you'd actually find that its diameter is a little bit smaller than when it gets higher up in the sky. So, this is a self-fulfilling supermoon. No matter when you declare it's the supermoon, people will go out and look at it and they'll believe that they're seeing it bigger and brighter, even though that's not the case."
This super moon, called the Hunter's Moon, will be appearing on the horizon just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, climbing to its apogee and most brilliant phase at 4:26 a.m. Pacific time on Thursday.
Some say it gained its name from hunters in the 1700s who relied on the autumn super moons to search for animals.
City News Service contributed to this article.
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