On the night of March 9/10, 2020, the first supermoon of the year will occur, as the full Moon and perigee coincide with just 13 hours of difference between them. (KASABUBU OF PIXABAY / PUBLIC DOMAIN)

How To Best View The First Supermoon Of 2020: The Full Worm Moon

The full Moon is always a sight worth looking at. This March, the full Worm Moon is a little more “super” than usual.

The full Moon is always a spectacular sight: the night sky’s brightest object by far.

On June 18, 2007, the planet Venus passed behind the thin crescent Moon as seen from many locations on Earth. Even when the Moon is close to its new phase, it outshines Venus by a factor of many hundreds; in its full phase close to perigee, it can rise up to ~2000 times the brightness of Venus, which it will achieve on the evening of March 9, 2020. (HASSAN AMMAR/AFP via Getty Images)

At 100% illumination, it’s ~2000 times brighter than the next brightest object, Venus.

When the Moon is close to its nearest point to Earth in orbit, perigee, at the same time that it’s fully (100%) illuminated by the Sun on its Earth-facing side, we achieve what’s known as a supermoon: the brightest and largest full Moons as seen from our planet. (REX BOGGS / FLICKR)

On Monday night, March 9, Earth will experience the full Worm Moon, the first of two consecutive supermoons.

The Moon’s orbit isn’t a perfect circle, but an ellipse. When perigee coincides (or nearly coincides) with fullness, we achieve a Supermoon. (BRIAN KOBERLEIN)

Just 13 hours later, the Moon will reach perigee: the closest point in its elliptical orbit to Earth.