On the night of April 7 to 8, 2020, if the clouds allow it, a super moon will be visible in full confinement.
Tonight do not hesitate to bring your eyes to the sky from the window: as long as the clouds move away a little or the sky is clear it will be wonderful at the heart of confinement: a Super Moon! That is to say the coincidence of two astronomical phenomena: the fact that our satellite is at the perigee of its orbit – that is to say the point closest to Earth – and the full Moon. The combination of these two phenomena at about the same time results in what is commonly called “a super moon”.
99.4% of the Moon illuminated
Let’s start with the first phenomenon: the perigee of the Moon varies between 356,400 to 370,400 while its apogee – the point of its orbit furthest from the Sun – varies between 404,000 to 406,700 km. This range is due to the fact that other celestial bodies slightly disturb the Earth-Moon movement. This April 7 at 6:10 pm, above the southeast horizon, the Moon will be at its perigee point at 357,000 km, but at this precise moment, it will not be completely “full”, but all the same , 99.4% of its surface will be illuminated. The full moon will not occur until 4:34 am on April 8, to the southwest.
Easter date
But the two phenomena occurring almost at the same time, the lucky ones who will have a clear sky, will be able to admire the super Moon, about 7% larger than usual. But this full moon has another peculiarity: it determines the date of Easter. “Indeed since the Council of Nicea in 325, the date of Easter is determined by Sunday which after the full moon after the spring equinox,” said Denis Savoie astronomer, historian of science and director of scientific mediation at Universcence. However, the full moon does not occur on the same day each year. Result: Easter is a moving holiday that can fall between March 22 and April 25…
