SINGAPORE – Keep your eyes peeled for the supermoon on Tuesday night (Feb 19), when the full moon is expected to be the biggest and brightest this year.

The supermoon will coincide with the annual Lantern Festival – or Chap Goh Meh – which marks the end of the 15-day Chinese New Year celebrations.

If the sky is clear, the best time to view the phenomenon would be at moonrise at around 7.30pm, a Science Centre Singapore spokesman said.

The best places to see it include locations such as East Coast Park and Labrador Park, which have a clear view of the eastern horizon.

Supermoons occur when the moon’s orbit is closest to Earth at the same time that it is full. This causes the moon to appear bigger and brighter in the night sky.

While the moon’s brightness remains dependent on Singapore’s weather conditions, the moon is expected to look “slightly larger” when compared with full moons in other months or with objects on the ground nearby.

“When the full moon is viewed by itself, one will hardly see a difference in the size and brightness,” the spokesman added.

Its colour may also change if the Earth’s atmosphere has more water vapour or smoke particles.

Another supermoon will light up the sky on March 21. While this will be smaller than the one on Tuesday, it will be “significantly larger” than the smallest full moon of the year, said the spokesman.

The first supermoon of 2020 is expected on March 9.

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