Witness Hunter Moon: Free telescope viewing at Lucknow

The supermoon, the largest and brightest moon visible from Earth, can be seen today, October 17th

A full moon at its closest to Earth is called a supermoon. It can occur during both full and new moons, though invisible during the new moon

According to former NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak, perigee could occur Thursday night at about 222,000 miles from Earth

A full or new moon becomes a supermoon when it's at perigee (closest to Earth in its orbit)

According to scientists, the moon will be closest to Earth at 11:55 PM Thursday, about 351,519 kilometers away

The moon will be furthest from Earth on October 30th, at a distance of 406,161 kilometers

October 17th marks the third of four supermoons this year. The next will be visible on November 15th

The Indira Gandhi Planetarium and the UP Amateur Astronomers Club have set up four large telescopes for supermoon viewing

Free telescope viewing is available at the Abhinav Gupta Bhavan of Lucknow University's Astrology Department

The supermoon appears about 40% larger and 30% brighter. It's called the Hunter Moon as hunters traditionally used its light for hunting in October