The Moon’s monthly orbit around Earth is slightly elliptical rather than circular, which means its distance from us varies and so not all full Moons are the same.
When this year’s Flower Moon becomes full it will be close to its maximum distance from Earth – a point known as apogee.
That means this year’s Flower Moon will appear slightly smaller than usual because it is at the farthest point from Earth in its orbit – roughly 406,000km (252,000 miles) away.
The difference between apogee and perigee is approximately 43,000km (26,000 miles) – sounds huge, but to the naked eye the change is barely noticeable except in photographs.
The overall effect is that a micromoon appears slightly smaller in the sky and may be a touch less bright than average.
