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Maryland Can See 'Supermoon' This Weekend

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- One weekend each year, the moon is closer to the Earth than ever.

As Mary Bubala reports, now is your chance to see the spectacular "supermoon."

Bigger and brighter than normal full moons, the "supermoon" will rise this weekend. It will be the closest and largest full moon for all of 2013.

"After sunset Saturday night, if you head out, look to the east. You will see a beautiful sight of the full moon rising and it should be a spectacular show," said Noah Petro, NASA research scientist.

The moon will be some 29,000 miles closer to Earth than the farthest point in its orbit. The moon will appear up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than usual. If you don't see it now, you'll have to wait another year.

"In August of 2014 will be the next nearest full moon, so just about every 14 months, every year or so, we have one of these things called a `supermoon,'" Petro said.

While scientists at NASA Goddard in Greenbelt, Maryland are excited to see the "supermoon." They already have spectacular images from the lunar reconnaissance orbiter, or "LRO."

"LRO has a front seen to the moon continuously and that mission, that spacecraft, is returning a huge volume of data that has really revolutionized how we think and understand of how the moon operates," said Petro.

Don't worry---the moon will still be more than 221,000 miles away from us.

You can catch a glimpse of the "supermoon" Saturday night, early Sunday morning or again Sunday night.

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