I am not always a fan of the having a full moon sitting in the sky. I am interested in searching the skies for meteors and shooting stars, and the extra light created by a full moon, is something that I do not care for.
The next full moon is due tomorrow night on December 12th, right smack dab near the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. To add to this, the moon will be at its perigee, which means that it in its elliptical orbit around the Earth, it will be at its closest point. What this means for the observer on the ground is that we will see the moon as being larger than usual. At perigee, the moon is about 50,000 KM closer to the earth than at apogee, its farthest point.
Does this mean that the moon will come crashing into the Earth? Not hardly, this is a part of the normal orbit that the moon takes around the earth. It just happens that this particular full moon will be occurring just a couple of hours after the moon has past its perigee.
Now, when you look at the sky, will you notice the difference? Yes, the best time to look will be right around moonrise or moonset. Since we are at a full moon, look for the moon to rise right about the same time the sun sets and vice-versa.
I do not plan on taking in the Geminids this year, because of the presence of the full moon, but I will head out to check the rising moon on the evening of December 12th, if the clouds clear.
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