What is micromoon?

A micromoon is when the moon looks smaller than usual because it’s farther away from Earth.

Imagine you're holding a balloon, when it's close to your face, it looks big, but if you walk far away with it, it looks tiny. That’s like what happens with the moon and the micromoon.

When the moon is at its farthest point from Earth in its path, we call that a micromoon. It still shines brightly, but because it's farther away, it appears smaller in the sky.

The moon moves in an oval-shaped path around Earth, sometimes it’s closer (we call that a supermoon) and sometimes it’s farther away (micromoon). This happens because the moon’s orbit isn’t perfectly round. Just like how your favorite toy might be close to you one minute and far away the next, the moon has its own "favorite distances" as it goes around Earth.

Even though it looks smaller, a micromoon is still just as bright as usual, it's like looking at a slightly distant light bulb that’s still shining brightly.