Originally published on July 11, 2022, at Guy Ottewell’s blog. Reprinted with permission.
A full and near moon is a supermoon
The moon will be full, and at its nearest to Earth for 2022, on Wednesday, July 13.
Twice or sometimes three times every year, there is a near-in moon (a supermoon. It’s defined as being a moon near its perigee, or closest point in orbit to Earth, at a time when the moon is also new or full.
This is made clear in our graph below of the moon’s distance from the Astronomical Calendar 2022.
July 13 is the closest supermoon of 2022
The time of the July 13 perigee is 9:04 UTC, which by clocks on distorted summer time show as 10:04 a.m. in Britain, and 4:04 a.m. in North America’s Central time zone.
The perigee happens only 9.5 hours before the moment of full moon.
Supermoons can cause high tides
Tides are caused mainly by the moon. But the sun, vastly larger and vastly more distant, adds a pull about half as strong. This is why the highest amplitude of tides comes at these two near-in moons – the year’s closest new moon and the year’s closest full moon – in 2022, slightly less than half a year apart.
Where I live in the UK, there is also a heat wave rising. But its amplitude may have more human than lunar contribution.
Bottom line: Learn more – and see charts – related to the July 13, 2022, nearest full moon of 2022 from master chart-maker Guy Ottewell.
Astronomer, artist and poet Guy Ottewell’s beloved Astronomical Calendar ended its yearly print run in 2016, its 43rd year. It was continued as a web page for 2017 to 2021 [https://www.universalworkshop.com/astronomical-calendar-any-year/] and is now continued as a full online book for 2022 [https://www.universalworkshop.com/astronomical-calendar-2022/]. Visit Guy’s website UniversalWorkshop.com or his blog at UniversalWorkshop.com/Guysblog. You can also find times for over 600 astronomical events, such as planets’ oppositions and conjunctions, the moon’s phases, eclipses, equinoxes and solstices, meteor showers, and more at https://www.universalworkshop.com/astronomical-calendar-any-year. Guy’s stories and art are used here with permission. Thank you, Guy! The image shows Guy walking from the Carolina coast to the Blue Ridge mountains one spring (as depicted in Sky & Telescope magazine).