Why does the Moon sometimes appear smaller than usual? There’s a reason behind this phenomenon.

On the night of February 17 to 18, the Moon appeared slightly smaller than usual. The visible size of Earth's satellite changes slightly because the Moon has an elliptical or oval shape. This means that its distance from Earth varies, which affects how we see the Moon in the sky, writes Space.

On the night of February 18, the Moon reached what is known as apogee. This means it was at its farthest point from Earth. Due to the Moon's elliptical orbit, its distance from Earth changes throughout its 27.3-day rotation cycle around our planet. When the Moon is closer to Earth, we can observe a supermoon or a full moon, during which our satellite appears slightly larger in the sky.

Conversely, when the Moon is farther from Earth, it appears smaller. In reality, the distance from Earth to the Moon changes by only 14% as it approaches and moves away from our planet during its orbital motion, which is why most people do not notice the change in the Moon's size very much.

The exact moment of the Moon's apogee occurred at 3:10 AM Kyiv time on February 18, and at that time, Earth's satellite was set against the backdrop of the constellation Virgo.

Currently, the Moon is 19 days old since the new moon and is in the waning phase, approaching the next phase, which is the third quarter (this will occur on February 20). This phase is named as such because the Moon has completed three-quarters of its path in its orbit around Earth. We remind you that the phases of the Moon refer to the periodic change in the level of sunlight illuminating parts of the Moon in the Earth's sky. The new moon will occur on February 27.