The biggest, brightest super-moon of the year will be rising just after sunset on Monday – but those really keen to see it can drag themselves out of bed before dawn tomorrow morning.

That's when the moon is actually closet to earth – at 5.44am – with full moon at 6.10am.

A supermoon from 2012 seen over Maketu. Photo: Stewart Ireland.

Moonset is at 6.55am, just before sunrise, while the moonrise Monday evening is at 6.23pm.

A supermoon is a full moon at perigee – when the moon is closest to the earth.

It will make Monday's full moon bigger and brighter than any other moon this year – and there won't be a closer full moon until November 2034, says University of Canterbury astronomer Associate Professor Karen Pollard.

She says at perigee the moon will be 356,896km away from Earth, the closest it will be for another 20 years, and will also seem much larger on the horizon.

There was also a supermoon on July 12 and there will be another on September 9, but Monday's is the closest and largest for 2014.

'After September, the cycles of full moons and perigees get out of sync and it won't be for another year and 48 days that they align again and we are able to see more supermoons,” says Karen.

Auckland's Skydome says not all supermoons are visibly spectacular.

There are five in 2014, and the two in January weren't really seen because they occurred at a new Moon phase, when the Moon is more or less directly between the Earth and the Sun and pretty much invisible.

The best time to see or photograph the Moon is as it's rising on Sunday and Monday evening.

A close supermoon will result in more extreme spring tides, but this effect shouldn't cause flooding unless combined with a strong weather system, says Karen.

Metvuw's forecast for both evenings is for clear skies and light winds.

Will you be capturing tomorrow's supermoon on camera? Send your photos of the supermoon to: newsroom@thesun.co.nz