Sheer delight for stargazers as they see brightest supermoon of 2024

Stargazers in Pakistan were enthralled by the rare sight of the supermoon on Thursday night.

The supermoon appeared 14 percent brighter and seven per cent bigger than the regular moon.

According to astronomists, the supermoon phenomenon happened due to the shrunk distance between the moon and Earth. The supermoon appears after the distance between Earth and the moon shrinks to 226,000 miles, while in normal circumstances the average distance between the two solar system objects is 238,855 miles.

This was the third supermoon of the current year, and it appeared in Pakistan soon after the sunset. Earlier, the supermoon was sighted in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. In Pakistan, the birth of the supermoon occurred at 4:26pm.

According to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), a supermoon occurs when the moon’s orbit is closest (perigee) to earth at the same time the moon is full.

Supermoons occur when a full moon reaches an orbit where it is the closest to the earth, making the moon appear up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than usual.