If you were feeling particularly romantic on Friday night and wanted to lasso the moon for your beloved, there is an astronomical explanation to it: the supermoon.

A ‘supermoon’ occurs when it makes its closest approach to earth. Last night it was ‘only’ 358,257 kilometres away. At its furthest from the earth, the moon is around 408,257 kilometres away.

It’s a phenomenon known as perigee, which means ‘near earth’. Astronomer and geographer David Pace said: “When the point in the moon’s orbit closest to us coincides with a full moon, then the moon appears unusually large and bright.”

Supermoons are not as rare as solar eclipses and usually occur every 13 months and 18 days. This year, however was a bonanza year, with the phenomenon occurrence of technically five supermoons.

However, out of the five, only the full moons of July, August, and September will be visible. “The other two happen during the new moon phase – and when it’s a new moon, it is not visible on earth. [On Friday] we could see it clearly but sometimes supermoons are masked by clouds and poor weather,” Mr Pace said.

When it’s a new moon, it is not visible on earth

While astronomical buffs with the stargazing galore this summer, insomniacs might not be so over the moon about it.

Many on social media reported restless nights this weekend and new research supports their claims. Studies by the Gothenburg University in Sweden shows that full moons do affect our sleep: we tend to wake up more often and sleep 25 minutes less during the full moon than during the other moon phases.

The study data shows that the men in the study were most affected by the full moon, sleeping on average 51 minutes less than the women during this part of the lunar cycle.

This means that there are two more sleep-deprived weekends to endure. Friday’s supermoon, in fact, won’t be the largest of the year. For that, you will have to wait for August 10, when the moon will be another 1,388 kilometres closer than Friday night and it will appear at its brightest for 2014.

So make use of the sleepless nights to plan for the next romantic do.