Moon shines big and bright Sunday

Don’t go west. West is overrated.

Just look east as the sun sets at 8:20 p.m. on Sunday.

What you’ll see is a full moon rising, one of the biggest and brightest full moons this year.

The moon is going to be so big and so bright, in fact, that the astronomical phenomenon is often referred to as a “supermoon.”

While many say the “supermoon” is a mere optical illusion, a textbook example of relativity as it looms on the horizon, the scientific reality is this: On Sunday, the moon will be at its closest to the earth, only 223,000 miles away as opposed to 251,000 miles away when it’s farthest from the planet.

“Usually, when you just see the moon far away and hanging in the sky, it doesn’t look as big,” said Bob Pippin, an astronomer who manages the planetarium at the College of Southern Nevada in North Las Vegas. “But when it rises and it’s low on the horizon, it’s going to look really big and really bright.”

Pam Maher, an education specialist at the CSN planetarium, urges everyone who loves all things astronomical to check it out. It’s quite phenomenal, she said, and “it’s a free treat.”

She stops short of referring to the moon as a “supermoon,” though. “That’s just an urban legend. I don’t believe anything unless it comes from NASA,” she joked.

Both Maher and Pippin know their science, although their approaches vary in explaining how the sun, the moon and the earth all operate independently while remaining interconnected.

Maher, for example, because she’s always teaching children, will often use an Oreo cookie as a prop to explain the phases of the moon.

As for Pippin, he lets it all loose — old-school, textbook style: “A full moon occurs,” he said, “when the moon is directly opposite the sun in the sky.” Which means the light from the sun will shine on the moon, making it visible, or “full,” as the light is reflected back to the earth.

A new moon, however, cannot be seen — only because both the sun and the moon are in “the exact same direction in the sky” and therefore there is no reflection of light to be had, he said.

Of course there are other phases, the quarter moon, the half moon — the Dark Side of the Moon.

Wait, that’s an old Pink Floyd album. Refocus.

“The moon goes through phases,” Pippin said. “It goes around the earth, and we’re going around the sun.”

Contact reporter Tom Ragan at tragan@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.