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supermoon

Full moon will appear bigger and brighter in the night sky than it has in nearly 70 years

An extra-super supermoon is rising this evening, and you don’t want to miss it.

Tonight’s full moon will appear bigger and brighter in the night sky than it has in nearly 70 years, and all you have to do to witness its shining glory is look up.

“Supermoon” is a non-technical term for a moon that turns full at the same time it hits perigee — the point on its orbit when it is closest to Earth. The moon’s path around our planet is shaped more like an oval than a circle, so there are times when it is closer to us (perigee) and times when it is farther away (apogee).

Supermoons occur about once every 14 months on average. However, Sunday night’s supermoon is extra super because the moon will be even closer to Earth than usual.

At its closest approach, the moon will be 221,524 miles from our planet, compared with an average distance of 238,900 miles.

The last time the moon sailed this close to Earth was on Jan. 26, 1948, when it came 30 miles closer. The next time won’t be until Nov. 24, 2034, when the distance between the two bodies will be 40 miles less.

Why does the distance between the Earth and the moon fluctuate so much?

As Bob King explained in Sky & Telescope, the shape of the moon’s orbit varies due to the ever-changing distances and relative position of the sun, moon and Earth. Thanks to variations in these gravitational forces, the moon’s orbit is sometimes more oval shaped, and other times more like a circle.

“When more oval, the Moon’s perigee point gets unusually close to Earth, and if a full Moon arrives at that point, it will be considerably closer to us than during those times when the lunar orbit more closely resembles a circle,” King wrote.

Astronomers warn that some skywatchers may be disappointed by this particular lunar show. At its closest (3:23 a.m. Monday morning) the lunar disk will appear 7% larger across, and 16% brighter than an average moon. Many people will not notice a difference, they warn.

But I say — don’t underestimate the power of suggestion. If you take a minute to gaze upon our glowing, gorgeous moon, and remember that it is closer to us right now than it has been in more than half a century, I bet you anything it will look a little more special and super than usual.

Text written by Deborah Netburn http://lat.ms/2g4tgH5

Try these 5 quick, easy and fun dessert crafts for your Thanksgiving this year from Southern Living!

Full Recipes:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Acorns
Ingredients:
Chocolate Frosting
Nutter Butter Bites
Hershey’s Kisses
Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips

Preparation:
-Pipe a small amount of frosting onto center of Nutter Butter Bite. Press one Hershey’s kiss into chocolate frosting.
-Pipe a dot of frosting on other side of Nutter Butter Bite and press one peanut butter chip into frosting
-Let “acorns” dry completely before serving

Marshmallow Turkey Legs
Ingredients:
Large pretzel rod
White chocolate candy coating, melted
2 mini marshmallows
Wax paper
Vegetable cooking spray
2-3 Rice Krispy Treat bars broken into pieces

Preparation
-Dip the end of the pretzel rod in the melted chocolate, and press 1 marshmallow into chocolate on each side. Let dry on wax paper
-Dip the pretzel rod and attached marshmallows in melted chocolate, covering about half the pretzel. Let dry.
-Lightly grease hands with cooking spray and press pieces of Rice Krispy Treat bars around the uncoated half of the pretzel rod, cover all sides.

Pilgrim Cookie Hats
Ingredients:
Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter cups
Keebler fudge-striped cookies
Yellow icing
Reese’s pieces candies

Preparation:
-Unwrap the peanut butter cups, place the cookie chocolate-covered side up and put a small amount of yellow frosting in its center
-Stick the peanut butter cup onto the frosting until its firmly in place. Make sure that there’s a thick line of frosting coming out form underneath the peanut butter cup. If not, line the bottom edge of the peanut butter cup with yellow icing.
-Place a single Reese’s piece onto the frosting as a “buckle”. Serve and enjoy!

Waffle Cone Cornucopias

Ingredients:
Waffle cones
Toffee bits
Chocolate chips, melted
Parchment paper
Optional: Ribbon
Miscellaneous candies and snacks

Preparations:
-Optional: to curl the tip of your cornucopia, dip the end of the waffle cone in water for 20 seconds and microwave it for 20 seconds. Wrap the end around a clean pencil and let dry.
-Dip the rim of the waffle cone in melted chocolate; dip coated edge in toffee bits. Set cones on a piece of parchment paper and let dry
-Optional: add ribbon to dress up your cornucopia!
-Fill with your favorite fall candies and snacks. We used nuts, dried fruit, chocolate candies, caramel corn and candy pumpkins

Thanksgiving Oreo Turkeys
Ingredients:
Chocolate frosting
Double stuf oreo cookies
Reese’s miniature peanut butter cups
Whoppers
Yellow frosting
Chocolate candy sprinkles
Optional: red decorating gel

Preparation:
-Squeeze a small amount of chocolate frosting around edge of one Oreo, covering about one-third of cookie edge. Insert 5 pieces of candy corn into frosting to simulate feathers.
-Using chocolate frosting, attach a second cookie to the first cookie to form a base. Candy corn should face away from the attached cookie
-Cut off and discard one edge of a mini peanut butter cup. Use chocolate frosting to attach the peanut butter cup where the two cookies meet, with the cut edge of the peanut butter cup against the base cookie.
-Using chocolate frosting, attach a whopped to top of peanut butter cup
-Cut white tip from a piece of candy corn to use for the beak, and attach to the Whopper, using chocolate frosting. Use yellow frosting to make two eyes on the Whopper and add one chocolate sprinkle to each eye.
-Let dry completely (about 10 mins) before placing upright. Using yellow frosting, add feet to the base cookie and if you like, add a wattle (red part under beak of turkey) using red decorating gel. Enjoy!