Hyderabad: 

Since the Moon follows an elliptical—not perfectly circular—orbit around Earth, its distance from us varies. It appears slightly larger when it comes closer to Earth, while it may appear a bit smaller when it is farther away. A supermoon happens when a full Moon aligns with its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit, known as perigee. In each 27-day orbit around our planet, the Moon reaches both perigee—about 226,000 miles (363,300 km) away—and apogee, its farthest point—about 251,000 miles (405,500 km) from Earth, NASA explains.

The Moon will appear slightly larger and brighter on Monday night as it makes its closest approach to Earth in its elliptical orbit. This marks the first "supermoon" of the year, with two more expected before the end of 2025. In India, the celestial event will be visible on the evening of October 6 and the early hours of October 7, 2025. Notably, every supermoon is not equal. Since the term "supermoon", though not an official astronomical term, is used to describe a full Moon that comes within at least 90 per cent of perigee, some supermoons may be brighter and larger than others.

October's supermoon will make the moon look up to 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than the faintest moon of the year, according to NASA. The moon will pass within about 224,600 miles (361,459 kilometres) of Earth.

Regarding October's supermoon, NASA says that even though 14 per cent doesn’t make a big difference in detectable size, a full supermoon is a bit brighter than other moons throughout the year. "It might be hard to detect a supermoon visually, but it does have an effect on Earth," NASA said. "Because the Moon is in its closest approach to Earth, it can cause higher tides than usual."

This subtle change occurs several times annually and occasionally aligns with other celestial events, such as lunar eclipses. However, it may be hard to discern the visual changes during a supermoon if one doesn't observe the regular moon on the nights leading up to the event.

The celestial events will continue in 2026 with two lunar eclipses: a total eclipse in March, visible across much of North America, Asia, and Australia, and a partial eclipse in August, observable from the Americas, Africa, and Europe.

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