Last night’s supermoon was the first of three chances in two months to view the phenomenon, but a bank of cloud spoiled the opportunity for some southern viewers.
The moon was last night at its closest to Earth during its elliptical orbit, and was expected to be 14% bigger and 30% brighter than normal.
Otago Museum director Dr Ian Griffin, who is an astronomer and photographer, recently tweeted photographs of the moon, including an image he took early yesterday morning.
Dr Griffin said the big, bright moon was ‘‘astonishingly beautiful as it disappeared behind the hills of my home town as dawn brightened the sky’’.
Nasa research scientists said that supermoons were ‘‘a great opportunity for people to start looking at the moon’’.
Dr Griffin said that early risers today could catch the moon starting to go out of sight about 7.10am, between the west and southwest.
If you missed last night’s supermoon sighting — the first this year — there will be a second supermoon on January 2, and a third on January 31.
The third supermoon was expected to be the most interesting, becoming a blue moon, the second full moon in a calendar month.
It would also coincide with a lunar eclipse.
