supermoon

noun

su·per·moon ˈsü-pər-ˌmün

plural supermoons

: a full moon occurring when the moon is at or near the closest point in its orbit

A supermoon … occurs when the moon is full within 24 hours of being at its closest point to the Earth in its orbit.—

Kaleigh Rogers

Visible supermoons appear 14% bigger and 30% brighter than full moons that occur at the farthest point in the moon's orbit.—

Karen Hao

As the first and only supermoon of 2017 rose high into the sky this Sunday (Dec. 3), astrophotographers seized the opportunity to shoot the moon in all its bigger-than-usual glory.—

Hanneke Weitering

Examples of supermoon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Stargazers are in for quite the double feature this weekend: The Beaver moon, the last supermoon of the year, will share the celestial stage with the dazzling Leonid meteor shower. —

Gabriella Rudy, NBC News, 15 Nov. 2024 November's full moon is the fourth consecutive supermoon of the year. —

Jenna Prestininzi, Detroit Free Press, 29 Oct. 2024 The moon also reached its closest point to the Earth—the perigee—earlier this week, causing a supermoon, which is 14% larger than the typical full moon. —

Ty Roush, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024 Last month, the largest supermoon—about 14% larger than the average full moon—emerged, while two comets, the Tsuchinshan-ATLAS and ATLAS comets, traveled across the sky. —

Ty Roush, Forbes, 1 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for supermoon