Supermoon, Upper Makefield, PA, March 19, 2011/Mark Setash, huffingtonpost.com

If you saw the moon rise Saturday, you saw something special — possibly the biggest and brightest full moon you’ll ever see.

Supermoon, New Philadelphia, PA, March 19, 2011/eggman, flickr.com, buzzfeed.com

Scientists call it a super full moon — supermoon for short. It’s a show Nature puts on once every 18 years or so when the moon reaches its closest approach to Earth (perigee) in its elliptical orbit just as it’s also reaching maximum fullness.

Supermoon, El Paso, TX, March 19, 2011/buzzfeed.com

It happened on Saturday, March 19, 2011, and word is that this supermoon will go down as the best for a few 18-year cycles to come.

Supermoon, Chigado Canyon, CO, March 19, 2011/SierraJoe, flickr.com, buzzfeed.com

Missed it? Bummer. Then be glad other people didn’t. All around the world, moonwatchers were out capturing beautiful images of the event.

Supermoon, Jakarta, Indonesia, March 19, 2011/Daniel Giovanni, cnn.com

Supermoon over Manhattan, seen from Weehawken, NJ, March 19, 2011/Juan Manzano, huffingtonpost.com

So if you didn’t see the supermoon with your own eyes, you can still see it through theirs.

Supermoon as seen from International Space Station, March 20, 2011/Paolo Nespoli, ESA/NASA, space.com

Supermoon rises over Statue of Liberty, Liberty State Park, Liberty, NJ, March 19, 2011/Brian J. Gibney, nj.com

The images above and below are a taste of the beautiful photographs people took. Click on any of them or the links farther down to see more.

Supermoon, Alda, NE, March 19, 2011/gwinnettdailypost.com

Supermoon, Daytona Beach, FL, March 19, 2011/gwinnettdailypost.com

Supermoon over Atlantic Ocean, Ocean City, MD, March 19, 2011/jaxnimble, huffingtonpost.com

Enjoy!

See  & learn more:

• To view all these images and many others, click here, here, here, here, here, here and especially here.

• To learn more about the supermoon phenomenon and see some great videos and graphics, click here, here, here, here and here.

Supermoon over Greenwich Village, NYC, March 19, 2011/gkwallace, ginisnaturenews.com