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.

Slate’s Emily Bazelon admitted her own astronomical ignorance and wondered why her children were so fascinated by the stars and planets.

Needless to say, she was promptly schooled by her readers and the resulting article is a great introduction to astronomy resources on the web.