Saturday night special: Biggest full moon of '09

[Lochloosa]

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.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28581233/?GT1=43001

[theoldman]

1. Those this mean that all the Lunatics will be howling at the moon?

[valerief]

2. Cool. n/t

[OwnedByFerrets]

3. The ERs will be full tonite.

[Lochloosa]

11. I worked the weekends at hospital in the early '80's. Your right, they will be.

[XOKCowboy]

4. I wish I was on my favorite Caribbean beach tonight....

Last January I got to see the full moon rise over the ocean. Now that was fantastic. The Belikin beers and the Cuban cigars helped also. Happy New Year!

This year I'll be there during the New Moon so I'll just have to make do with a sky full of stars. Shucks.

[malaise]

8. I'm close enough and will be watching

the moon rise about the Blue Mountains.

[XOKCowboy]

17. I just Googled the Blue Mountains

I've got to visit Jamaica one day. So beautiful. Enjoy the Moonrise. :)

[malaise]

19. You should

and they're gorgeous tonight.

The best place to stay in the hills.
http://www.strawberryhillresort.com/

[azul]

5. And Venus was so bright I could see it before the sun went down

last night. What a bright night.

[Tesha]

26. When Venus is reasonably full, you can actually see it far into the day if you know where to look.

One day, we were on the seacoast watching the sun rise, and Venus
was very prominent before the sunrise. Since I then knew where in
sky to look for it, I was able to "re-spot" it well into the full daylight.

(When Venus is completely full, it's behind the Sun and you can't
see it at all. So whether or not you can do this trick is a careful
balance between Venus's brightness and the obscuring solar
glare.)

Tesha

[Warren DeMontague]

6. WUR DOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED~!!!!!

Or, at least, mooned.

[NoPasaran]

7. Ah, THAT explains GD-P!

[Kalyke]

9. Of course it's raining here - it's rained here for 20 days - with

only one or two days without rain.

We're so soggy, we're building arcs.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. Ditto...half a state south of you.

Moon was big and bright last night, then clouds and rain all day, again ,.
This has been a very wet winter, but I can't complain after the drought of the past 3 years.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. Thanks for the reminder.

[Lochloosa]

12. The camera and tripod are ready and waiting.

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. cool. Post some of the pics, will ya?

[Vinca]

14. Oh great - a night of my cats bouncing off the walls.

They go nuts during full moons.

[EFerrari]

15. Good luck, mods!

:scared:

[bermudat]

16. This morning before the dawn, the moon was brilliant!

So large in the sky. Thanx for explaining the reason.

[nc4bo]

20. Well, I got to see the bottom1/3 of it...just as the clouds covered it up :S BOO. nt

[PM7nj]

21. I have a friend who sleepwalks whenever there is a full moon.

I'm sure she will be up tonight!

[DemoTex]

22. Hozomoon, Hozomoon! Saw it rise in shroud clouds .. swoon!

Big and jaundiced, with clouds abundant and streaking across the face of the big fat moon. A desolate Beethoven type of night .. or Mussorgsky on his bald mountain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Ca_edg6RE

[question everything]

23. Thankfully, we had a cloudless day today

and we saw it with all its majesty.


Just looked outside. The whole backyard is lit as if under a huge lantern.

[grace0418]

24. Too bad it's been snowing all day. I see a lot of white but not much else.

Looks beautiful!

[Tesha]

25. "You got a love-bite on your neck."

Unfortunately for us here in New England, we were busy getting
snowed-upon last night, but the moon was pretty spectacular
Friday night as well. ;)

Tesha

[Liberal_in_LA]

27. It was spectacular