ASHTON PETERS/FOR THE EXPRESS Thursday night’s sky provided a clear look at the final supermoon of 2025 as it shined over Lock Haven.

NEW YORK (AP) — The last supermoon of the year shined in the December sky.

The moon’s orbit around the Earth isn’t a perfect circle so it gets nearer and farther as it swings around. When a full moon is closer to Earth in its orbit, a so-called supermoon happens. It makes the moon look up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the faintest moon of the year, according to NASA.

Supermoons happen a few times a year in clusters, taking advantage of the sweet spot in the moon’s elliptical orbit, and Thursday night’s event was the last of three in a row in 2025.

Supermoons can be glimpsed in clear night skies without any special equipment. But it can be tough to discern the subtle change with the naked eye.

Whether a supermoon or not, the moon also appears bigger when it’s close to the horizon because of what’s called the moon illusion. It’s a strange visual trick that experts can’t yet explain.

“When you have a supermoon, that effect is just slightly more striking,” said astronomer William Alston with the University of Hertfordshire.

Tides could be slightly higher during a supermoon because the moon is closer to Earth, but again, the difference isn’t very noticeable.