Lake Martin provides stunning backdrop for lunar rarity

This image from the waters of Lake Martin of Monday evening’s Supermoon as it rises over the horizon at Smith Mountain catches the silhouette of someone walking the steps of the fire tower. (Kenneth Boone / The Outlook)

For two consecutive nights astronomers and photographers worldwide looked to the sky to catch a glimpse of the Supermoon or as the astronomical community calls it – perigee-syzygy.

A Supermoon is the phenomenon that occurs when a full moon coincides with the closest approach the moon makes to the Earth on its orbit. This week the moon was 221,526 miles away from the center of Earth. That’s about 31,000 miles closer than normal.