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Snow Moon: First supermoon of the new decade will be visible this weekend

Posted at 6:15 AM, Feb 06, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-06 15:34:23-05

Anyone located in an area with clear skies this weekend will be able to catch a glimpse of the first supermoon of the new decade.

The first full moon of February, nicknamed the "Snow Moon" by the Farmer's Almanac, will be at its fullest at 2:33 a.m. ET on Sunday morning.

According to NASA, the moon's distance from the Earth changes throughout its orbit. At its furthest, the moon is 253,000 miles away from the Earth. At its closes, the moon is 226,000 miles away.

On Sunday, the moon will be roughly as close as it can be to the Earth at the same time as a full moon — hence, a supermoon.

According to EarthSky.org, this weekend's supermoon marks the first of four straight months of supermoons — the phenomena will also occur in March, April and May.

According to the Farmer's Almanac, February's full moon was nicknamed the "Snow Moon" hundreds of years ago because of the heavy snow that often accompanied the full moon.

Sunday's full moon also marks the Chinese lunar new year. In the Chinese zodiac, 2020 marks the year of the rat.