The biggest full moon this year will appear in the skies this weekend.

The full moon coincides with the moon's orbital perigee, when the moon is closest to earth. It's actually a perigee sysygy - the almost straight line line up of the sun, moon and earth.

The moon will be at its fullest at 3.35pm on Sunday and the last ‘supermoon' seen in New Zealand skies was in March last year.

Tauranga Astronomical Society patron Dr Grant Christie says the moon will be 10 per cent larger this weekend.

He says the moon's orbit is elliptical, so at various times it will reach its closest point to earth making it appear larger and brighter.

The association of the moon with both oceanic and crustal tides has led to claims the ‘supermoon' phenomenon may be associated with increased risk of events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Wikipedia says the moon will be 356,955km from the Earth.