Photo: March 19, 2011
Location: Al Wakra, Qatar
By: lhon_m2ice
Photo: March 25, 2011
Location: Al Wakra, Qatar
By: lhon_m2ice
Its a super "perigee moon" the biggest in almost 20 years.
"The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993," says Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC.
Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. It is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other (apogee).Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon's orbit.
The full Moon of March 19th occurs less than one hour away from perigee--a near-perfect coincidence1that happens only 18 years or so.
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