"Supermoon" lit up the skies across the world on Sunday Aug 10,2014

A "supermoon" lit up the skies across the world on Sunday as stargazers enjoyed the Perseid meteor shower - one of the year's most dramatic lunar events.

The moon appeared 14% bigger and 30% brighter than normal as it reached the point in its orbit closest to the Earth, known as "perigee".

Dr Bill Cooke from the American space agency Nasa's Meteoroid Environment Office, said the luminous "supermoon" risked drowning out the meteor shower.

 He said: "Lunar glare wipes out the black-velvety backdrop required to see faint meteors, and sharply reduces counts." Dr Cooke added that the Perseids were also "rich in fireballs as bright as Jupiter or Venus" that would remain visible despite the moon's glare.

People gather in the park as a perigee moon, also known as a supermoon, rises in Madrid, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014. The phenomenon, which scientists call a "perigee moon," occurs when the moon is near the horizon and appears larger and brighter than other full moons

The full moon, nicknamed 'the supermoon', rises at Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A perigee moon, also known as a super moon, raises over high rise buildings in Hong Kong Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014.

 The full moon peeks through trees in a wood near Rasing, Austria, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014.

 A view of the 'supermoon', or perigee moon, rising behind The Shard building in London

 A supermoon hovers over New York City on August 10, 2014 in Weehawken, New Jersey.