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Tonight's 'Supermoon' Closer To Earth Than It's Been Since 1948

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- It's been 68 years since the moon has been as close to the Earth as it is today.

"It's the brightest and closest full moon since January 1948, and it won't be this close again until November 2034," says Dr. Noah Petro, of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

The moon's elliptical orbit puts it furthest away at "apogee" and closest to Earth at "perigee."

Tonight, it'll be 50 miles closer to Earth, which may not sound like much, but it's enough to make it 30 percent brighter and 14 percent bigger than a regular full moon.

The close appraoch started last night and peaked about 6:30 a.m. EST this morning.

"If you missed it last night, go out tonight and it will still be beautiful and it will still be big," Petro says.

While closer means bigger and brighter, there's also an optical illusion when the moon is near the horizon.

Because of the way our brains are wired, objects in the foreground make it seem bigger than it is.

So, if you catch it early in the night, you'll really get the full effect.

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