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This year's first "supermoon" will appear in the night sky in the early morning of August 20. Interested people in our country can look up at the sky in the evening of the 19th to admire this "fat moon".

When the moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the earth and their ecliptic longitudes differ by 180 degrees, the moon seen from the earth is the roundest and is called a "full moon" or "wang". The 14th, 15th, 16th and even 17th day of each lunar month are all possible periods for a full moon to appear.

Xiu Lipeng, a member of the Chinese Astronomical Society and an expert in astronomy, said that the moon's orbit around the earth is an ellipse. Sometimes the moon is close to the earth, and sometimes it is far away from the earth. The closest point to the earth is called the perigee, and the opposite is called the apogee. From an astronomical perspective, a "supermoon" can be simply called a "perigee full moon", that is, the full moon appears exactly near the perigee, and at this time, the moon looks particularly large. This "supermoon" will be full at 2:26 on the 20th, and the moon will pass the perigee at 13:00 on the 21st.

"Supermoons" are not rare astronomical phenomena, with one or two and three or four occurring in a year. "This year, there are four 'supermoons' that appear in sequence, and the next three appear on September 18, October 17 and November 16. Among them, the 'supermoon' on September 18 is the largest full moon of the year," said Xiu Lipeng.

How to appreciate the first "supermoon" of this year? "Since the full moon occurs in the early morning, interested members of the public can observe it in the evening of the 19th. At this time, the moon has just risen from the east. Due to the reference objects on the ground, the naked eye will feel relatively large, and the color of the full moon is slightly reddish; when the moon rises to a certain height, it is difficult for the naked eye to distinguish this difference, and the color of the moon will gradually turn white or white-yellow. You don't need professional astronomical equipment to appreciate the full moon, just like appreciating a meteor shower, you can use your naked eyes. Of course, if you use a small astronomical telescope, you can observe the bright or dark details on the moon more clearly." Xiu Lipeng said.