Friday, December 12, 2008

Special Moon Tonight

Earth set for full moon close up

Full moon over San Francisco
The moon will appear high in the night sky

A full moon is set to occur closer to the Earth on Friday evening than it has done for the past 15 years.

The Moon's elliptical orbit means its distance from the Earth is not constant.

It will be a little over 350,000km away as it passes over the northern hemisphere, which is about 30,000km closer than usual.

If the sky is clear it will appear brighter and lighter than usual, say astronomers.

[from BBC News]