Hello Everyone,
I recently received this message (snippet below) and thought I'd
forward it along. I edited it a bit to make it more concise and added
the actual dates and times of the three events at the bottom. I also
included a URL that describes the appearance of the moon at perigee and
apogee. Note, that for my local at UTC-8 (PST) the winter solstice
actually occurs on Dec. 21 not Dec. 22, I know, Bah-Humbug!
Enjoy,
Luke
<snip>
Everyone should mark their calendars as this will be the last lunar
hurrah of this century. This year will be the first full moon to occur
on the winter solstice, Dec. 22, in a long time.
Since a full moon on the winter solstice is occurring in conjunction
with a lunar perigee (point in the moon's orbit that is closest to
Earth), the moon will appear about 14% larger than it does at apogee.
This will make it appear brighter. Also, this will be the closest lunar
perigee of the year.
The Earth is also several million miles closer to the sun, than in the
summer. Thus the sunlight striking the moon is about 7% stronger,
making it still brighter.
</snip>
Winter Solstice:
12/22 07:44 UTC
12/21 23:44 PST
Full Moon:
12/22 17:33 UTC
12/22 09:33 PST
Lunar Perigee and distance:
12/22 10:44 UTC 356654 km
12/22 02:44 PST
A very interesting link describing the moon's appearance at both
apogee and perigee.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/moon_ap_per.html
