Photographer Shows the Supermoon’s Relative Size in the Sky

This past Monday, the world was treated to the largest “supermoon” since January 26, 1948. If you’re wondering how the supermoon compared to an average appearance of the moon in the sky, check out photographer Philippe Moussette‘s comparison photos above.

A supermoon is generally about 14% larger (in diameter) and 30% brighter to human observers on the ground when compared to the moon at its furthest point from Earth.

To capture the supermoon’s relative apparent size accurately, Moussette photographed full moons at its closest and furthest points on November 13th, 2016 and April 21st, 2016, respectively, using the same camera equipment: a Canon 7D Mark II and a 500mm f/4 lens.

Finally, by cropping the two moon photos the same and placing the images side by side, we see the difference ~50,000km (~31,000 miles) makes for how big the moon looks in the sky. Just for reference, the United States is about 2,680 miles wide.

Here are the same comparison photos viewed another way: