Saturday Night Special: Biggest Full Moon of 2009

[cali]

If skies are clear Saturday, go out at sunset and look for the giant moon rising in the east. It will be the biggest and brightest one of 2009, sure to wow even seasoned observers.


Earth, the moon and the sun are all bound together by gravity, which keeps us going around the sun and keeps the moon going around us as it goes through phases. The moon makes a trip around Earth every 29.5 days.


But the orbit is not a perfect circle. One portion is about 31,000 miles (50,000 km) closer to our planet than the farthest part, so the moon's apparent size in the sky changes. Saturday night (Jan. 10) the moon will be at perigee, the closest point to us on this orbit.


It will appear about 14 percent bigger in our sky and 30 percent brighter than some other full moons during 2009, according to NASA. (A similar setup occurred in December, making that month's full moon the largest of 2008.)

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090109/sc_space/saturdaynightspecialbiggestfullmoonof2009

[NightWatcher]

1. Dont taze me bro, it was the moon

[stop the bleeding]

2. cool

[Riley18]

3. Think I'll take advantage of the only good thing about living in Florida, and

go down to the beach to see the full moon over the ocean! Thanks for the info.

[NOW tense]

4. That would be a sight.

[cali]

5. sounds wonderful. It's still hovering around 10 degrees here

in northern VT, despite bright sunshine. I'm simply hoping that the coming snow storm holds off so I can see this over the field of snow outside my window.

Oh, and welcome to DU.

:hi:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

6. Probably accounts for how everyone's been so nuts the last day or two.

[pleah]

7. I have been watching the moon all week.

It was so bright last night, I could see everything in my yard like it was daylight.

Beautiful! Can't wait to see it tonight.