SYDNEY: Sky-watchers climbed to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia on Monday to get a closer view of the "supermoon", the largest, brightest full moon in nearly seven decades.

The large moon, which astronomers said was closer to Earth than at any time since 1948, ducked between the clouds over Sydney on Monday evening, with crowds lining up to take photographs.

The rest of the world will be hoping for clearer skies in order to see the full moon, which appears up to 14 percent bigger, and 30 percent brighter, than usual, NASA says.

At its closest approach at 6:23 am EST (1123 GMT) on Monday, the moon will pass within 216,486 miles (348,400 km) of the Earth's surface, about 22,000 miles (35,400 km) closer than average, the agency added.

The moon's distance from Earth varies because it is in an egg-shaped, not circular, orbit around the planet.

The next opportunity to see a full moon come as close to Earth will be in 2034.