Night falls over the turn basin in Launch Complex 39 bringing with it expectations of the appearance of a supermoon.

Night falls over the turn basin in Launch Complex 39 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, bringing with it expectations of the appearance of a “supermoon.”

The scientific term for the supermoon phenomenon is "perigee moon." Full moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the moon's orbit. The moon follows an elliptical path around Earth with one side about 50,000 kilometers closer than the other. Full moons that occur on the perigee side of the moon's orbit seem extra big and bright. For additional information, visit http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/10jul_supermoons/. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky