Thursday, December 11, 2008

Fully Full Moon

The moon is at perigee (closest approach to Earth) right now, and it's also nearly full. I was just outside admiring it, and it is pretty sweet. Because it's close to the horizon, through a well-known (but not well-understood) optical illusion, it looks even bigger. From National Geographic:
Although a full moon happens every month, the one that rises tomorrow will appear about 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than the other full moons seen so far this year.

Tomorrow we're supposed to be having rain and gales, so I probably won't get a chance to see it then, but tonight, ahhhh...

1 comment:

The O'Sheas said...

Yeah, on the drive home from kindergarten my 5 y/o said, "The moon is following us, dad." And it certainly felt like it when it was just above the horizon and rising this evening.

She may be right.