The moon tonight
You might want to check out the moon tonight – because this evening’s full moon could appear up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full moons this year.
How come? Well, the moon’s orbit is not circular but elliptical which means that the distance between the moon and the Earth is not constant but varies. The moon is usually about 385,000km from Earth, but tonight it will be closer at around 363,000km.
Further information here.
Incidentally, do you know how many men have walked on the moon? This was a question in a quiz I ran earlier this week and nobody knew the correct answer.
The correct answer is: 12.
All these men visited the moon between 1969-1972. Since then, nobody has been there.
Apollo 17 mission commander Eugene Cernan was the last person to leave the moon’s surface in December 1972.
December 14th, 2008 at 6:24 am
Well, that is of course if you buy into the faked NASA moon landing photos. Or ignore the moon bases established by the Nazis in the 1940s. Oh, sorry, this should be my comment on why people believe weird things. 🙂
December 15th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Did Neil Armstrong really moon on the landing?
December 16th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Try asking him!
May 31st, 2009 at 1:38 am
Tonight it is simply massive and orange in colour. Since when has the moon ever been orange. I didn’t even know the moon changed size. Found it a bit freaky to be honest.