Supermoon June 2013: When it'll Be Biggest, Brightest in Baldwin-Whitehall

By Richard Cook

If the skies are clear Sunday night, it will be hard to miss. Coinciding with the first days of summer is this year's supermoon.

Also known as a perigee full moon, the word "perigee" describes the moon's closest point to Earth for a given month. The moon won't get this close again until August 2014.

Over the weekend, the moon will appear up to 14-percent bigger and 30-percent brighter than usual. Coined by astrologer Richard Nolle, the term "supermoon" essentially means a bigger and brighter full moon. 

It will be the most dramatic when the moon is closest to the horizon—moonrise or moonset.

In Pittsburgh, moonrise occurs on Saturday, June 22, at 8:07 p.m. Moonset is at 6:06 Sunday morning. Moonrise on Sunday is at 9:05 p.m.

If you get a good picture of the supermoon, be sure to share it with your neighbors by uploading it to the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch announcements board.