Last supermoon of the year

There will be a full moon again on Friday. As in August, a particularly large moon awaits us: it is the last supermoon of the 2023 calendar year. This is also known as the harvest or corn moon.

A full moon occurs when the Moon appears as a complete circle in the sky. We see it as a full orb because the whole of the side of the moon facing the earth is lit up by the rays of the Sun. The Moon produces no visible light of its own, so we only see those parts of the Moon that are lit up by other objects. A small amount of light comes from distant stars, and from the reflection of light from the Earth (Earthshine), but the main source of the light is the Sun.

The full moon actually occurs today at 11.57 a.m. CET – this is the exact moment when the Sun and Moon are aligned on opposite sides of the Earth. This moment is known as the 'syzygy' of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, and can happen at any time day or night.

Zuger Zeitung reader Roland Widmer was able to take a great shot of the moon over the Zugerberg on Wednesday.

The moon over the Zugerberg     Photo: Roland Widmer.