The close moon proximity does it again! Currently we're experiencing a "super moon", the Moon is very close (perigee) so likely to affect Earth seismically. A supermoon is when a full moon occurs while the Moon is near its closest approach to Earth. Since the Moon's orbit isn't quite circular, it can be as close as 363,396 km (perigee) or as distant as 405,504 km (apogee). As a result, the Moon looks slightly larger when it's near perigee than when it's near apogee. The difference isn't as huge as some web memes claim, but it can be a noticeable difference. So this year's Hunter's Moon is a bit brighter than usual. November's supermoon will actually be the largest full moon since the 20th century. So keep an eye out for possible large quakes during that supermoon. An 6.9 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The US Geological Survey detected the epicentre near New Britain, Papua New Guinea's largest offshore island, at 4.15pm local time (7.15am BST).