It will appear about 7% larger and 15% brighter, although the difference is barely noticeable to the human eye.
The exact moment of the full moon will be at
Robert Massey, of the Royal Astronomical Society, said it will appear brightest at
The Met Office's
Last year the Moon made its closest approach to Earth since 1948 - it won't be that close again until
Nasa has called this weekend's sighting the first in a "supermoon trilogy" over the next two months, with others to come on 1 January and 31 January.
December's full moon is traditionally known as the cold moon.
This full moon on Sunday afternoon - when it sits opposite the sun in the sky - will be 222,761 miles from Earth, closer than its average 238,900 miles.
Moon illusion
Mr Massey says the "most spectacular views" will come during moonrise, on Sunday, and moonset, on Monday morning.
This is because an optical illusion, known as the Moon illusion, makes it look unusually large when it appears close to the horizon.
In the
Mr Massey said: "It's a nice enough phenomenon. It's always nice for people to go out and look at it.
"You won't necessarily think that it's huge. It will appear a bit bigger than usual, but don't expect it to look five times bigger."
The moon doesn't move around Earth in a circle - it orbits in an elliptical or oval shape.
This means that its distance from Earth is not constant but varies across a full orbit.
But within this uneven orbit there are further variations caused by the Earth's movements around the Sun.
These mean that the perigee - the closest approach - and full moon are not always in sync.
But occasions when the perigee and full moon coincide have become known as supermoons.
