Because the moon is not perfectly round, its distance from Earth varies by about 49,900 kilometers as it circles around the planet every 27 days.
At its closest point, known as perigee, the moon comes as close as 363,104km from Earth. At apogee, the most distant point, the moon is 406,696km away.
Reuters
The Earth's shadow obscures the view of a super-moon during a total lunar eclipse over Antwerp, Belgium on Monday. Photo: AP
Skies were clear for the phenomenon to be visible in parts of North and South America, Europe, Africa and parts of West Asia and the eastern Pacific. In the United States, the eclipse began at 8.11pm. The total eclipse began two hours later and lasted for one hour and 12 minutes.
