Rare 'Supermoon' Shines Brighter Than Usual Tonight

By Aaron Couch, Contributor / March 19, 2011

Boston
Wolves may have a bit more incentive to howl Saturday, when the moon will appear bigger and brighter than it has in 18 years. Despite one astrologer’s fears that the “supermoon” will cause a natural disaster, NASA insists there is nothing pernicious or supernatural about it.

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It all comes down to the moon's oval orbit. At one end of the orbit – the perigee – the moon is about 31,000 miles closer to Earth than at its farthest point, the apogee.

It’s quite rare for a full moon to coincide with a perigee. The most recent example was the near supermoon in 2008, when the full moon occurred four hours before perigee. Saturday’s occurrence is even closer to the full moon and perigee lining up.

IN PICTURES: The full moon

"The full Moon of March 19th occurs less than one hour away from perigee – a near-perfect coincidence that happens only 18 years or so," Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory said in a NASA report.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0319/Rare-supermoon-shines-brighter-than-usual-tonight

This is related......

I'm excited to see it! I mean, I don't want any hurricanes, earthquakes or anything. Or werewolves, for that matter.

Here's the article, I can't c&p it.

http://moviepoori.com/news/extreme-supermoon-event-2011.html

Hey!!! (well, I'm not THAT mad but...)

I just looked out my window at the moon and its normal size! I'm sooo disappointed!

I haven't seen any moon so far.

Nice clear skies & wow...what a beautiful moon!

'Supermoon' covered up by cloudy skies

Updated at 10:46 PM today

March 19, 2011 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Sunday is the first day of spring, but on Saturday night, eyes are on the sky.

Although it was mostly hidden behind clouds in our area, the biggest, brightest moon we've seen in almost two decades has risen around the country.



http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8023294&rss=rss-wls-article-8023294

I saw it, took some pictures but they turned out crappy.
It didn't appear as large as I thought it would.........

Moon over Sarasota Bay, Florida

My sister took this last night.............