Tonight's Long Night Moon is closest in 15 years
The full moon that rises over Baltimore tonight is the last before the winter solstice, which makes it the Long Night Moon. Some also call it the Moon Before Yule.
But this full moon is even more notable for the fact that it will be the closest Earth's only natural satellite has come to its mother planet in 15 years, and the nearest until 2016. If there were an easy way to compare it side-by-side with a more average full moon, it would even appear visibly nearer - and larger. Maybe you'll notice anyway. It's said to be as much as 14 percent wider and 30 percent brighter than your run-of-the-mill full moon.
This event is called "perigee," the moon's closest approach to the Earth for the month as it moves along in its 28-day elliptical orbit of the Earth. In this case, that translates to about 221,559 miles at 5 p.m. this afternoon. That's about 25 minutes after moonrise in Baltimore. If the clouds clear off soon enough, we may actually get a look at it.
The Maryland Science Center will be offering even closer views of the moon, 5:30 to 9 this evening, weather permitting, through their Crosby Ramsey Memorial Observatory telescope, where it is Stargazing Friday. No charge. For information, call 410 685-5225.
For the period from the year 1750 through 2125, the nearest perigee was 221,441 miles, on Jan. 4, 1912. The farthest apogee will be 252,724 miles, on Feb. 3, 2125. So during tonight's perigee the moon will be just 118 miles farther away than the closest perigee of that entire 375-year period. Cool!
This perigee also comes just a few hours after the moon is precisely full - at 11:38 EST this morning. And when the full moon and perigee coincide, we can anticipate unusually high tides, although wind and weather conditions may blunt the effect. You can track the tides in real time here.
Comments
Great info. I appreciate the effort. From Central Florida, the skies have cooperated and the view is stunning.
Posted by: Mac Emerson | December 12, 2008 7:45 PM
Have you noticed that the moon arrives each night about 53 minutes later than it did the night before?
The moon takes about 28.25 days to circle the earth in the same direction that we spin. While we make 1 revolution, the moon advances about 360 / 28.25 days = 12.75 degrees.
By the time we spin 12.75 degrees, the moon has advanced almost another 1/2 degree, so we need to spin an extra 13.25 degrees to see the moon at the same angle we saw it "yesterday".
We spin at the rate of 15 degrees per hour (15 * 24 =360) or 1 degree every 4 minutes. So, it takes us 4 * 13.25 = 53 minutes extra.
Because the moon's orbit is an ellipse and not a circle, it travels faster when it is closer and slower when it is farther away. Therefore, it actually takes between 51 and 55 minutes extra, but on most days, the delay is very close to 53 minutes.
Best regards,
Izzy
Posted by: Israel "izzy" Cohen | December 12, 2008 8:00 PM
Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed the effect of this on womens' behavior?!!
Posted by: Ryan in Tennessee | December 12, 2008 11:17 PM
I'm a psychiatric nurse and believe me- the full moon affects everyone. Certainly some of the most chaotic and violent nights have been during full moons. Women may be particularly affected if its mixed w/ hormones :)
Posted by: Leigh | December 13, 2008 8:52 PM
nice simple concise info
worked 30 years of weird broken shifts
in montreal airports, having only the
moon as guideline of nature's time.
Learning about the mouvement of it's dance around the earth explained so
clearly is a real pleasure. It adds even more fascination. Regards Louise
Posted by: louise authier | January 11, 2009 1:49 AM
most of the elements of the moon are unknown due to the fact that very few of the reach the surface.
Posted by: Jasmine | January 22, 2009 2:46 PM
my dog was acting wierd today, like all day and i let him outside and hes been staring at the moon fo over an hour now and he wont move.. hes not dead hes like in a trance of somesort.. no bullXXXX.. today my mom was acting more of the lines of a "female dog" too soo.. looking into this!
FR: Be nice.
Posted by: devin | August 6, 2009 12:22 AM