Catch the last supermoon of the year starting tonight 

Cebu City, Philippines — The third and last supermoon of the year will be seen starting Wednesday night, March 20, 2019, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

According to Romeo Aquirre, weather specialist of Visayas-Pagasa, the moon rises at 5:18 p.m. on Wednesday in Cebu but the supermoon will be best appreciated at dawn of Thursday, March 21.

“Ang atong full moon is 9:43 a.m. ugma, March 21. Pinakanindot makit-an ang supermoon sa kadlwon kay duol gyod siya sa full moon,” Aguirre said.

(The full moon is at 9:43 a.m. tomorrow, March 21. The supermoon will be best seen at dawn when it will be nearest to the full moon.)

Aguirre added that there will be a big chance that the supermoon will be seen clearly by many since the weather is expected to be fair tonight. 

The supermoon is the phenomenon whereby the moon appears particularly large in the sky owing to the coincidence of its closest approach to the earth with a full moon.

According to Pagasa, as of 8:00 a.m. today, the distance between the earth and the moon is approximately 359,475.5 kilometers.

Engr. Alfredo F. Quiblat, Jr., OIC of Visayas- PAGASA, explained that the significance of the March supermoon is that it falls to vernal or spring equinox, which is the transition of winter to spring season.

In the North Hemisphere, the March full moon is coined as the “Worm Full Moon”, because it coincides with the end of the winter and the start of the spring when earthworms begin to appear from the thawing soil.

The first full moon was experienced last January 21 and the second, which was the brightest and the biggest so far, was on February 19. /bmjo