You might have heard some talk about the “June Supermoon” that seems to be buzzing the astronomy and space news outlets on the internet. Hey! wait a minute. Wasn’t there a supermoon last month? Why yes, there was. So how super is the June supermoon and what’s the big deal anyway about the full moon that happens on June 23, 2013 at 11:32 UTC (6:32 a.m. CDT in the U.S.).

Well, this full moon is not only the closest and largest full moon of the year. It also presents the moon’s closest encounter (perigee) with Earth for all of 2013. So it’s not just a “supermoon” like we had in May but It’s the closest “supermoon” of 2013. But how super is it really?

To be honest if everybody was not making such a big deal about the biggest, most “supermoon” of 2013 happening this month then I’d venture to say that no one would even notice the difference. Yes, the Moon will be slightly (hardly noticeable) larger in the sky at full moon this month because it’s nearer to perigee than at any other time it happens to be in full phase in 2013 but that’s the extent of it really.

I like to promote astronomical happenings and often I’ll tells friends and family about cool things that they can see in the sky but I have to admit I’m a bit turned off by folks making a mountain out of a mole hill about something because they need something to write about. I also frown on suckering in the public to see a sky event that will make them walk outside and say “oh, yah, that’s a full moon. I don’t see anything “super” about it. It just looks like a full moon to me.”

Too often astronomical events come off as flops or very unspectacular to the public. The last thing I want to do is add to that. So, yes the Moon will be closer to Earth this full moon than at any other full moon phase this year and yes, it will appear very, very slightly larger in the sky but please do not expect to walk outside and have your socks blown off by the super duper moon of 2013. Having said that, please get out and enjoy the full moon of June 2013. Super or not, It’s our planet’s only natural satellite and a dozen men have walked on its surface.

New Moon occurs this Thursday evening May 9, 2013 at 6:31:40 p.m. CDT. The phrase new moon means the lunar phase that occurs when the Moon, in its monthly orbital motion around Earth, lies between Earth and the Sun, and is therefore in conjunction with the Sun as seen from Earth. More precisely, it is the instant when the Moon and the Sun have the same ecliptical longitude.

The Moon takes 27.3 days to orbit Earth, but the lunar phase cycle (from new Moon to new Moon) is 29.5 days. The Moon spends the extra 2.2 days “catching up” because Earth travels about 45 million miles around the Sun during the time the Moon completes one orbit around Earth.

Why do we always see the same side of the Moon? Only one side of the Moon is visible from Earth because the Moon rotates about its axis at the same rate that the Moon orbits the Earth. This is known as synchronous rotation or tidal locking.

The Moon’s diameter is 2,159 miles. This is about 3.7 times smaller than the Earth, making it the Solar System’s fifth largest moon, both by diameter and mass, ranking behind Ganymede, Titan, Callisto, and Io.