WASHINGTON — Skywatchers are in for a treat this week as the year’s closest and brightest supermoon rises Wednesday night.

The Super Beaver Moon will reach peak illumination at 8:19 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Nov. 5, when the moon will be about 221,817 miles from Earth.

That will be the nearest it will come to the planet all year. It's nearly 2,800 miles closer than October’s supermoon, making this lunar event appear noticeably larger and brighter.

Because the peak will be during the day, most skywatchers will have better luck watching out for the supermoon on Tuesday night, as the moon enters its closest approach to earth, or Wednesday night, as it heads further away.

More a popular term than a scientific one, a supermoon occurs when a full lunar phase syncs up with an especially close sw

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