In a rare occurrence, the moon in the evening sky today will come to its nearest to the earth,appearing not only a shade brighter but also bigger than usual. "Today's moon in the evening and night sky is five per cent bigger and around 12 per cent brighter than the average full moon," said Dr Debiprosad Duari, director of M P Birla Planetarium, Kolkata.

Moon is now roughly at a distance of 3,56,800 km from the earth, a little closer than the average earth-moon distance of 3,84,000 km. The rare celestial event is often described as a "Super moon" by astronomers and skywatchers.On its elliptical path around the Earth, moon sometimes comes closest to the earth, the portion being called perigee.

"Today's moon is at the perigee and also it happens to be full moon," Duari said explaining the reason of the large appearance of the moon. Although Indians could enjoy the 'Supermoon' but they are going to miss a total lunar eclipse since the totality of the eclipse will start after 7 am tomorrow.