When is the supermoon 2017?

The first and unfortunately last supermoon of the year will rise tonight (Sunday December 3) in the late afternoon to evening hours.

During the supermoon event, spectators and photographers will be treated to a Moon up to 14 times larger and 30 times brighter than usual.

The best time to catch the Full Moon is just after sunset and before sunrise, but the Moon will look spectacular throughout the entire night.

Click here to find out more about when the supermoon rises in your area.

How to photograph the supermoon?

Shooting the supermoon event is one of the easiest ways to make your photography shine.

There are several ways in which you can capture the beauty of the Moon, whether that is by highlighting its swelled up size or setting it against a dazzling landscape.

If your goal tomorrow is the latter, then you should take into consideration a wide angle lens. Staying within the 8mm to 35mm focal length, will allow you to capture breathtaking vistas of the Moon and the surrounding nature or city skylines.

Just remember tif you do this, the moon will most likely stay nothing more than a very bright white dot on your photo.

On the other end of the spectrum you could chose to go for a powerful zoom lens to fully bring out the size of the supermoon.

By using a long focal length, such as 400mm or 500mm, you can fool the viewers into making the Moon appear spectacularly large. The trick is to align the Moon against a very distant object such as a tree or building – the forced perspective will make the Moon appear gargantuan.

This method will also allow you to take interesting silhouette photos against the bright Moon – let your imagination run wild.

But before you decide on the gear that you use and the types of photos you wish to capture, you should probably think about where you want to shoot your supermoon pictures.

Nasa’s Noah Petro suggests moongazers stray away from places polluted by urban light sources such as houses or street lamps, as well as tall trees that might obscure the view.

Wide open fields with an interesting building in the distance, or a city skyline from quite far away could be the perfect choice for your photo. Ultimately it is up to you.

Just keep in mind if you decide to head out into the wild to shoot the Moon, it could get very cold quickly, so you should dress up appropriately for the occasion.

To truly bring out the magic of the supermoon on your photos, good equipment, lenses and shooting in RAW formats are imperative.

But with most people having a camera in their pockets these days, nothing should stop you from using your smartphone to snap a great photo.

Remember to turn off your flash and poke around the Android of Apple Store for a camera app that will let you slow down your shutter speed and capture RAW images.

A tripod could be very helpful to stabilise your camera, but if you do not have one at hand, look around for something that will help you keep your phone still. 

What is the supermoon 2017?

The supermoon is a rare event during which the Moon makes a close approach to planet Earth.

Dr Greg Brown at the Royal Observatory Greenwich explained: “Our Moon travels the Earth on an orbit that takes 27.3 days to complete. That orbit isn’t perfectly circular – it’s slightly elliptical.

“And that means that at certain times during the orbit, the Moon is slightly closer to the Earth than at other times.

“A Full Moon or a New Moon which occurs during the closest point in this orbit is known as a supermoon."

When the Moon makes a close approach, or perigee, it comes within 363,300 km of Earth. The opposite of that is the apogee, when the Moon is as far away from the planet as 405,500 km.