The Super Moon is coming!

No, it’s not the end of the world. In fact, it’s probably a bit more common than you might think. Apparently,the perigee moon, as it’s called by actual scientists,  happens once every 13 months or so.

Still, the so-called Super Moon is a fun sight, and you can look for it in Kane County skies on Aug. 10.

What the heck is a Super Moon? We’re glad you asked. According to EarthSky.org:

“We in astronomy used to call them perigean new moons or perigean full moons, that is, new or full moons closely coinciding with perigee – the moon’s closest point to Earth in its orbit. But, in accordance with the rapidly evolving skylore of the modern world, we now enjoy calling them supermoons. The name supermoon was coined by an astrologer, Richard Nolle, over 30 years ago. It was popularized and came to be the accepted term for most people only in the past few years. Are supermoons hype? In our opinion … gosh, no, just modern folklore. And they can cause real physical effects, such as larger-than-usual tides.”

The year 2014 has a total of five supermoons. The next Super Moon, or “supermoon” depending on which site you’re looking at, is Sunday. According to science.nasa.gov, “On Aug. 10 (the moon) becomes full during the same hour as perigee—arguably making it an extra-super Moon.”