MUSCAT: The Omani Astronomical Society reported that the Sultanate of Oman will witness a giant moon after sunset on Tuesday, June 14, at the eastern horizon.

Shurooq bint Khalifa Al-Tawbia, a member of the Omani Astronomical Society, explained this phenomenon further, “The giant moon phenomenon occurs when the moon is full and is located near the closest point in its orbit around the Earth.”

“As the moon revolves around the Earth in an elliptical orbit, and therefore the distance between the moon and the Earth changes during the month. The moon passes once at the closest point in its orbit around the Earth and again at the farthest point in its orbit, and this is why the moon’s size and brightness varies in one month according to its location from these two points,” she said.

She added, “The moon will appear in a larger size estimated at 15 percent, and with a brightness of about 30 percent more than it is at the farthest point, due to the full moon at 3:52 pm Oman time and passed at the closest point to the Earth at 11:55 this morning.”

The sunrise of Al-Tawbia indicated that the best time to observe and photograph this astronomical phenomenon is at the rising or setting of the moon. A difference in its size and brightness will be quite evident. It is difficult to distinguish this difference when the moon reaches a high point in the sky.