Slideshow: Supermoon glows around the globe

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A runner makes his way along a trail on a butte in front of the "supermoon" at Papago Park in Phoenix, Arizona May 5, 2012. A "supermoon" will light up Saturday's night sky, May 5, in a once-a-year cosmic show, overshadowing a meteor shower from remnants of Halley's Comet, the U.S. space agency NASA said. The Moon will seem especially big and bright since it will reach its closest spot to Earth at the same time it is in its full phase, NASA said.

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Published: 5/06/2012 10:38 am

Updated: 5/06/2012 10:42 am

It may have been only an optical illusion, but what a sight. The biggest and brightest full moon of the year arrived Saturday night and glowed around the world.

In Brazil it illuminated the landmark Christ the Redeemer statue and later set behind a shanty town. In Florida, fishermen worked their lines amid the moonlight in Bal Harbour. And near Athens, tourists watched as the moon rose behind the Temple of Poseidon.

The moon was the closest it will get to the Earth this year — and appeared 14 percent larger because of that. At its peak it was about 221,802 miles from Earth. That's about 15,300 miles closer than average.