Nat’l Geo, Baltimore Sun, lots more: Watch moonrise tonight. You don’t see anything quite like it very often. Its HUGE (and it’s the Long Night Moon too)
Two mornings ago The Tracker made his usual predawn check of the steps for the newspaper. I stopped short to watch the orange, waxing, nearly-full Moon setting to the right of Mt. Tamalpais’s silhouette. My, that’s pretty big, I thought. But now I learn that the current visible disk of the Moon, which rises fully full tonight, is the closest it’s been to Earth – and during its full phase – for 15 years. It’s up to 14 percent larger in apparent diameter and nearly a third brighter than it is on more average risings. A NASA site, called Science@NASA, brings attention to it with lots of data and facts – and it probably one reason so many outlets and reporters perked up and are alerting their readers to something that isn’t really new or newsy, but it’s interesting to see. It also provides the accompanying comparison photos of previous full moons when near apogee, and perigee. Interesting too is that the pair show the effects of nodding of the moon’s poles as viewed from here with time – hence the slightly different moonscapes to ponder. The Moon has a far side, but it’s not always exactly the same far side.
Plus, as some accounts also note, the Geminid meteor shower is underway – if that giant full moon doesn’t drown it out, you might see some.
Stories:
- Salt Lake Tribune Sheena McFarland ;
- Nat’l Geo News Andrew Fazekas ;
- Times (UK) Paul Simons ;
- Baltimore Sun Frank Roylance notes this last one before winter solstice is also called the Long Night Moon.
- BBC asks its readers and listeners to send to it their pics of the moon tonight.
- Telegraph (UK) Lucy Cockroft ;
- Space.com Robert Roy Britt ;
- Atlantic City Press Ben Leach says an extra big pizza pie will hit your eye tonight;
- Virginian-Pilot Diane Tennant ;
- Brazil Times (that’s Brazil, Indiana) Ivy Jackson reports the some native Americans called this one the Full Cold Moon.
- … could do more, gotta go. See y’all Monday.
We need the rain in California. But one hopes it’s clear here and where you are at this evening’s sunset, moonrise.
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