Biggest and Brightest Full Moon of 2010 Tonight

Tonight's full moon will be the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. It offers anyone with clear skies an opportunity to identify easy-to-see features on the moon.


This being the first full moon of 2010, it is also known as the wolf moon, a moniker dating back to Native American culture and the notion that hungry wolves howled at the full moon on cold winter nights. Each month brings another full moon name.


But why will this moon be bigger than others? Here's how the moon works:


The moon is, on average, 238,855 miles (384,400 km) from Earth. The moon's orbit around Earth – which causes it to go through all its phases once every 29.5 days – is not a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse. One side of the orbit is 31,070 miles (50,000 km) closer than the other.
So in each orbit, the moon reaches this closest point to us, called perigee.



Once or twice a year, perigee coincides with a full moon, as it will tonight, making the moon bigger and brighter than any other full moons during the year.


Tonight it will be about 14 percent wider and 30 percent brighter than lesser full Moons of the year, according to Spaceweather.com.
As a bonus, Mars will be just to the left of the moon tonight. Look for the reddish, star-like object.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100129/sc_space/biggestandbrightestfullmoonof2010tonight

Thank you. My grandson and I will take a look see.

It's a beautiful moon! It's very cold here but worth spending a few minutes outside looking and smelling the crisp air.

I saw it earlier tonight-breathtaking...

DC weather has brought in the clouds, yet again, thus I didn't get to observe it. To those that got to see it: I'm jealous!

LunaticFringe said:

It's a beautiful moon! It's very cold here but worth spending a few minutes outside looking and smelling the crisp air.

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It is quite beautiful and very cold outside, indeed. I agree that the cool crisp air is refreshing. I live on a lake, it is frozen and snow covered and the moon is making it appear as though it's glowing. Really cool. Plus, the lake makes the funniest gurgling and crackling noises when it's frozen, so I get to listen to it "talk" to me while checkin' out the moon and Mars! Veddy nice.

Thank you for starting this thread for us, DK. I noticed the moon and how big it looked when I was driving home earlier. If you hadn't started this thread, I wouldn't have known anything about what a special and interesting Moon it actually is tonight. I passed the information on to my mom & my sister, they also appreciated it. Thanks, again. :thumb:

raining here!!!! sux...snow above us but not here

Glad so many got to enjoy it! It is very bright here, as well. You don't really need any artificial light to see outside! Maybe I'll try driving with no headlights.....nah, lol! :crazy:

I worked all nite and watched it several times. Especially driving home this am.. So big and beautiful... I wondered about but didnt know why. Thanks for info.

Tonight's moon is also pretty darn bright!

Dark Knight said:

Tonight's moon is also pretty darn bright!

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Indeed it is. I hope the wolves aren't out in Philly still. I have to run to the store.

Thank you for all this information DK. I love it.

Thanks, DK, for posting the info.

I didn't know what was up on Friday evening. I went out to check on my dog and it was sooooo bright out. A really different look! I mentioned it to Mr. DD. It's like you mentioned, no artificial light was really needed.

Pretty neat!