The Backyard Stargazer

Moon-1.31.10, originally uploaded by david parmet.

You might have noticed that the Moon looks awfully large this week. In fact you are correct. The Moon is at perigee – at the point in its orbit that it is closest to the Earth.

At this point, the Moon is a couple ten thousand miles closer than it is at apogee, the furthest from Earth. And its roughly 14% larger than normal.

So if you felt a bit loony this week, blame the Moon.

More information at Moon Connection.