Supermoon has sky gazers spell-bound

An unusally big supermoon was seen lighting up the sky Saturday night,offering a visual treat to curious sky gazers.

The phenomenon was special as the moon came closest to the earth in 18 years,rendering it the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. The moon was around 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter as compared to other full moons during the year,Nehru Planetarium Director N Rathnasree said. The supermoon is closest to the Earth in 18 years. It is the biggest and brightest of 2011, said Director of Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators C B Devgun.

The moon was only 3,56,577 kms away from the Earth,the closest while at the full moon phase in 18 years. Earlier,there were supermoons in 1955,1974,1992 and 2005.