The full Moon has a
reputation for trouble. It raises high tides, it makes dogs howl, it wakes you
up in the middle of the night with beams of moonlight stealing through drapes.
If a moonbeam wakes you up on the night of May 5th, 2012, you might want to get
out of bed and take a look. This May’s
full Moon is a "super Moon,” as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than
other full Moons of 2012. The scientific
term for the phenomenon is "perigee moon." Full Moons vary in size
because of the oval shape of the Moon's orbit. The Moon follows an elliptical
path around Earth with one side ("perigee") about 50,000 km closer
than the other ("apogee").
Full Moons that occur on the perigee side of the Moon's orbit seem extra
big and bright. Such is the case on May
5th at 11:34 pm Eastern Daylight Time (8:34 pm PDT) when the Moon reaches
perigee. Only one minute later, the Moon
will line up with Earth and the sun to become brilliantly full. The timing is almost perfect…
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