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First supermoon of the new decade will be visible Saturday night

Posted at 11:05 AM, Feb 08, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-08 13:17:00-05

The first supermoon of the new decade occurs Saturday night.

The first full moon of February, nicknamed the Snow Moon, will be at its fullest at 2:33 a.m. EST on Sunday morning.

According to NASA, the moon's distance from the Earth changes throughout its orbit. At its farthest, the moon is 253,000 miles away from the Earth. At its closest, the moon is 226,000 miles away.

On Sunday, the moon will be roughly as close as it can be to the Earth at the same time as a full moon — hence, a supermoon. It will appear very high and bright in the sky.

According to EarthSky.org, this weekend's supermoon marks the first of four straight months of supermoons — the phenomena will also occur in March, April and May.

Sunday's full moon also marks the Chinese lunar new year. In the Chinese zodiac, 2020 marks the year of the rat.