Supermoon happening Saturday morning

The first full Supermoon of the year is expected to occur Saturday morning, showing the moon much larger in the sky.

Full Supermoon is the name of a full moon happens while it is near or at its closest point to the Earth in its orbit --- or perigee.

The full Supermoon is expected Saturday at 6:27 a.m., according to David Falkner, president of the Minnesota Astronomical Society. But the moon becomes full 21 hours before perigee --- before it comes as close as possible to Earth and looks very large to us.

Falkner said you don't have to stand anywhere special to see a Supermoon. "The moon will just look big," he explained.

There are expected to be three total Supermoons this year.

This first full moon after the June 21 solstice is, according to folklore, also called Buck Moon, Thunder Moon or Hay Moon, according to Earthsky.org. "Around this time of year, in North America, buck deer start growing antlers, thunder storms rage and farmers struggle to pile up hay in their barns," according to the website.

Coincidentally, Saturday is also when Mercury reaches its maximum elongation, or its highest point in the sky, and will shine as bright as it can get, according to Falkner. This is expected to happen around dawn. Mercury's orbit throughout the year makes it travel across the entire night sky (so does Venus). "So as you look at them night after night, they'll tend to climb higher each night, and then reach their maximum," Falkner explained. "That maximum is what they call elongation."

Mercury's elongation will be 20.9 degrees west of the sun, according to Falkner. Because of its high magnitude, if you spot it, it will look like a bright star, or a solitary diamond.

"It never really gets too far away from the sun, so it's always a challenging object to see, and it's small," Falkner said. "But if you see it, it's pretty cool."