Perigee of the Full Moon

Tonight the full moon will be at perigee, offering sky-watchers a view of the biggest and brightest full moon seen since 1993. While we experience a lunar perigee every year, it infrequently coincides with a full moon. The next one will be eights years from now. Look for the full moon right after sunset as it is rising — it will appear impressively big!

This NASA composite picture, based on an image of the moon taken by the Galileo spacecraft, shows the apparent size differences between a full moon at perigee (the closest point in lunar orbit) and one at apogee (the farthest point), as seen from Earth.



You can still see Jupiter and Venus big as life early in the evening. Check out NASA's brief video about the sky in December.