“Super Worm Moon” To Light The Skies Sunday and Monday

The moon will look full to the eye here in the Rockford area on Sunday and Monday with the crest of the full moon falling on Monday.

Seems like every time we turn around we've got a strangely-named full moon sneaking up on us, and March is no exception.

First off, for those curious about what exactly a Super Moon is, we get the explanation from EarthSky.org:

A supermoon is a new or full moon closely coinciding with perigee, the moon’s closest point to Earth in its monthly orbit. According to the original definition of supermoon – coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 – a full moon or new moon has to come within 90% of its closest approach to Earth to be dubbed a supermoon. In other words, any full moon or new moon that comes to within 224,865 miles or 361,885 km (or less) of our planet, as measured from the centers of the moon and Earth, can be called a supermoon, according to Nolle’s original and extremely generous definition. That’s why you might hear about a number of supermoons in any given year.

EarthSky.org says the moon will be 222,081 miles (357,404 km) from the earth. The April 8 super moon will be slightly closer at 221,851 miles away. The most distant full moon of the year will come on Halloween.

In North America, the March full moon is sometimes called the worm moon. The worm moon origin comes from the ground thawing and worms reappearing in the soil. It's also called the crow moon or sap moon.