'Superest' Supermoon Full Moon of 2014 Rises Tonight: Watch Live Online

Supermoon of July 2014 Over Chesapeake Bay
The supermoon of July 2014 rises over the Chesapeake Bay in this breathtaking photo. (Image credit: Dominick Iascone)

The largest full moon of 2014 rises tonight (Aug. 10), and even if you don't have a clear view of the sky, you can still catch the cosmic action live online.

August's full moon, a so-called "supermoon," rises when the natural satellite is at perigee — the closest point to Earth in its orbit. It is the second of three supermoons this summer, according to NASA 

The online Slooh Community Observatory will offer a free live broadcast of the supermoon full moon tonight 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT). You can also watch the August supermoon webcast live on on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh. 

Supermoons can appear 30 percent brighter and up to 14 percent larger than typical full moons. Learn what makes a big full moon a true 'supermoon' in this Space.com infographic. (Image credit: Karl Tate/SPACE.com)

While both July and September also play host to perigee full moons, this month's supermoon is the bigger and better than the others this year, according to one NASA scientist. [See amazing images of the July 2014 supermoon]

"This is the supermoon, the 'superest' supermoon," NASA scientist Noah Petro told Space.com during a video interview. "The two full moons around this one are also close, but not the closest. By the strict definition of a supermoon or a perigee moon this one this weekend is the closest full moon of the year. The other ones are spectacular but not quite as close as this one." 

The moon orbits about 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers) from Earth on average. Today's supermoon brings the moon about 31,000 miles (50,000 km) closer to Earth than it is during its farthest point from the planet. The moon will only be "10s of kilometers" closer to Earth than other full moons this year, according to Petro.

One of the best times to see the supermoon is just after sunset tonight. "If you have a clear horizon, get out and check it out," Petro added. "It should be a great show. Of course, any time of night when the moon is high in the sky is a great time as well."

Editor's Note: If you snap an amazing lunar photo of August's "supermoon" and would like to share it with Space.com for a gallery or story, you can send images and comment in to managing editor Tariq Malik at: spacephotos@space.com.

Follow Miriam Kramer @mirikramer and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Miriam Kramer
Staff Writer

Miriam Kramer joined Space.com as a Staff Writer in December 2012. Since then, she has floated in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight, felt the pull of 4-Gs in a trainer aircraft and watched rockets soar into space from Florida and Virginia. She also served as Space.com's lead space entertainment reporter, and enjoys all aspects of space news, astronomy and commercial spaceflight.  Miriam has also presented space stories during live interviews with Fox News and other TV and radio outlets. She originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee where she and her family would take trips to dark spots on the outskirts of town to watch meteor showers every year. She loves to travel and one day hopes to see the northern lights in person. Miriam is currently a space reporter with Axios, writing the Axios Space newsletter. You can follow Miriam on Twitter.